Reuters has released a trade confirmation and affirmation service that it says has already been bought by several leading banks and brokers, including ICAP, RP Martin Brokers, Calyon and Lehman Brothers.
Reuters says the Trade Notification Service (RTNS) will enable banks and brokers to manage their trading capital and risk exposures more efficiently, and improve operational efficiency, by acting as a messaging hub that facilitates the electronic transfer of trade related messages. The service is already operational.
“Direct integration of ICAP’s voice and electronic broking systems with those of our customers is a key part of our technology strategy,” says Don McClumpha, Managing Director of Electronic Broking at ICAP. “Using additional channels like RTNS extends direct integration. We can rapidly transfer post trade information and improve the operating efficiencies of those banks where direct integration would be both costly and time consuming.”
ICAP went live on RTNS earlier this year and Calyon and Lehman Brothers will follow later this year.
RTNS will focus on trade affirmation and confirmation only as a starting point. Reuters intends to expand the service to cover allocation and settlement instructions as well.
The service supports industry standard message formats- FIX, FPML and TWIST – as well as providing direct connectivity into Reuters’ risk and trade management systems such as Kondor+.
Reuters says RTNS also supports FX spot, FX forwards, non-deliverable forwards, FX swaps and currency deposits and will be expanded to cover FX options, fixed income, interest rate and credit products over thecoming months.
RP Martin, which will go live later this month, says it bought RTNS after conducting a thorough review that took cost considerations and customer needs into account. The firm says customer feedback indicated the need for a consolidated ‘Community of Interest Network’ where multi-sources of data can be brought together for automated trade processing within a single system.
“RP Martin is pleased to be working with Reuters at the forefront of this technology initiative, designed to link the financial services community better and establish best market practice,” says David Caplin, CEO of RP Martin Brokers. “We have already received positive feedback from our customers and aim to continue to match customer demand with new initiatives like RTNS. We believe RTNS is a comprehensive service utilising the Reuters global presence, thereby reducing time-consuming and costly deployment issues often experienced with alternative approaches.”
Reuters says banks and brokers can use the service to deliver trade related messages electronically to their respective counterparties. In addition, RTNS will act as a single processing channel for Reuters new trading platforms, including the recently launched Reuters Trading for Fixed Income, Reuters Trading for Foreign Exchange, CME FX on Reuters and Reuters Electronic Trading – Automated Dealing.
“The more complex the instrument, the more costly and complicated it is to process the transaction, especially given the number of technologies employed by the involved parties,” says Rich Kiel, Senior Vice President of Transactions, Reuters. “The release of RTNS is in direct response to customer needs and allows users to lower their costs and operational risk by supporting all trade related messages – whether conducted by voice or over an electronic platform. With the broadest community and distribution network, Reuters has the unique position to make the service a success.”