MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), has launched an enhanced institutional credit trading system that includes significant additional functionality for credit default swap trading.
With this release, MarketAxess now has much of the core technology needed to meet the anticipated regulatory requirements for registration as a swap execution facility (SEF) and security-based swap execution facility (SB SEF) under the Dodd-Frank Act in the US.
We are confident that these changes to our platform, in addition to our independent governance structure and our extensive efforts to ensure that we comply with the regulators other core principles for SEFs and SB SEFs, place us in a leading position in terms of readiness to operate as a SEF and SB SEF, Rick McVey, chairman and CEO of MarketAxess, says. We have actively participated in the regulatory process and have worked closely with our dealer and institutional investor clients to develop trading technology that complies with the proposed rules and allows clients maximum flexibility in how they wish to trade CDSboth indexes and single names. We are also closely following the evolution of the European regulations to ensure we can address those requirements as they are further established.
MarketAxesss latest trading system enables live, streaming prices from multiple dealers for active contracts as well as request for quote (RFQ) for index and single names. It also allows for increased pre-trade price transparency, and the ability to designate clearing house and clearing member. The system allows for enhanced post-trade functionality for trade affirmation and connectivity to clearing houses, with additional trading functionality to accommodate CDS single-name and index switches and rolls.
With this increased functionality, we now have a highly sophisticated CDS trading platform for both index and single-name contracts, providing enhanced pre-trade price transparency, a variety of flexible trading protocols and the ability to fulfill post-trade connectivity requirements, Nick Themelis, CIO of MarketAxess, says.
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