Primary market specialist Ipreo has launched a FIX-messaging based system for integrating the Ipreo Investor Access platform, which allows investors to electronically submit orders directly to the sell-side syndicate banks with buy-side trading systems.
Ipreo has been working with members of the FIX Trading Community, and the broader market, for two years to implement the best practices identified to place orders and receive allocations in equity new issues. Building on the work started by the FIX Trading Community’s IPO Subgroup, Ipreo has extended these industry best practices to make FIX messaging available on fixed-income new issues as well.
An industry-led initiative, Investor Access allows investors to be alerted to new-issue announcements, receive information on deal terms and conditions, submit and manage orders, and receive electronic notification of allocation and pricing details, along with other deal-related information such as the prospectus and final terms.
Ipreo has addressed the challenges of supporting fixed-income deal flow without needing a change or extension to the FIX Protocol. This approach is designed to make integration between existing buy-side trading systems and Investor Access a straightforward and easily supportable task.
“It is encouraging to see companies like Ipreo apply their knowledge of the fixed-income primary markets to extend the workflows originally developed by the FIX Trading Community and contribute back to the market a workflow design to support the nuances of fixed-income primary issuance,” said Scott Atwell, manager for FIX Trading and Connectivity at buy-side firm American Century Investments and co-leader of FIX Trading Community’s IPO Subgroup.
The Investor Access initiative is the result of collaboration between eleven sponsoring banks and an active community of over 100 buy-side participants. The original sponsoring banks include BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ING, MUFG, NatWest Markets, Santander, Société Générale, and UBS.
