Thomson Financial says Merrill Lynch has become the first international sell-side financial institution to send indications of interest (IOI) and advertised trades (AT) via the new Thomson AutEx network using a single connection and the FIX protocol. This marks the beginning of the migration of all Thomson clients from the current AutEx IOI and AutEx TradeRoute systems to a global FIX-based system that integrates IOI, AT, Order Routing and Allocation messaging.
Merrill Lynch now has access to institutions throughout the world using the new AutEx FIX-based network. Access to the network is via an efficient single connection that supports all FIX messaging to the global trading community.
The AutEx service handles nearly one million indications daily, enabling more than 300 global brokers to advertise inventory to more than 500 institutions. With a single click, the buy or sell-side traders can quickly recap and review a stock’s latest indications including supers, trades, bid and ask prices, and other details.
New AutEx tools enable faster trade analysis and negotiations, and improve the flexibility in which messages are broadcast and received by the AutEx community. Greater selective targeting of messages and blocking capabilities ensure intelligent message validation. Several recaps for retrieving message data on specific securities are now available, with brokers viewing their own IOI messages and institutions viewing all messages. There are specific recaps for Trade Advertisements, Detailed IOIs, General IOIs and real-time intra-day ranking of broker trading volume, with contact information for the broker who sends an IOI or Trade Advertisement message.
“This places Merrill Lynch and Thomson in the forefront of the industry in the application of systems and the FIX protocol, and providing advanced information and trading services for our clients,” says Ken Wagner, chief operating officer, Global Transaction Services, Thomson Financial. “What’s more, it demonstrates the capacity of Thomson Financial to work closely with the leading brokers in providing essential trading information for institutional portfolio managers and analysts, making it possible for them to better execute at a lower cost and a higher return.”