Pre-trade risk and post-trade processing solution company Traiana has today announced that its Harmony network which is a cross-institution network that connects PBs, EBs and buy-side clients within equities and CFD markets, has now gone live in the Asia Pacific region.
The introduction of Traiana's Harmony network in order to provide its functionality to institutions within the Far East represents a further step toward the company's expansion into that particular region, following the opening of an office in Singapore just last week.
After connecting counterparties, the next progression in Traiana’s offering was to add credit monitoring, and according to the company, today in excess of 80 executing venues and 15 prime brokerages in many regions around the world are connected to the Harmony network, all of which utilize the service for give-up processing, allocations and T-O matching with buy-side firms, along with the recently added ability to match and affirm FX derivative client trades with LCH.Clearnet Ltd’s ForexClear service via the Harmony CCP Connect network.
The Harmony network’s expansion into Asia includes product enhancements designed to address localised requirements driven by both market practice and new regulations. These new functionalities include mandated unique indications around short selling and price breakdowns. The Harmony network also allows for segregation of regional trade data between the global centres that vary in definition between the synthetic Prime Broker firms.
Increase of End To End Visibility
Banks and buy-side firms use Harmony to increase end-to-end visibility and control with automated, real-time post-trade processing from point of Execution through to the final confirmation requiring manual intervention solely for exception processing, and as regulatory authorities in three of the most prominet FX markets, namely Europe, North America and the Far East, continue to implement ever-stricter trade processing rulings, the necessity is arising for technology firms such as Traiana to mirror their activities in Western markets among Far Eastern executing venues and prime brokerages.
Triana cites the demand for the equity swap network in Asia as a reflection of the change in behaviour in this market, and the growing volumes in the give-up market, increased access by global buy-side firms as well as focus on straight-through-processing servicing by global synthetic equity prime brokers as being factors which have lead toward the company's expansion of service in the region.
Entry Into China and India
Buy-side firms are using the product to access markets such as China and India for the first time, building on their existing activity in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Prime brokers leading the initiative and covering execution in the regional markets are Credit Suisse and UBS, with Singapore being the largest center for FX in Asia, institutional firms in the region require pre and post trade firms to have physical presence in the locality.
Rob Maloney, MD, Head of International Flow Financing, Credit Suisse made a corporate statement that “As a Bank, we have significantly improved the post-trade efficiency of what was traditionally a very manually intensive and bespoke market. Expanding this service to Asia allows us to replicate the high standard of client servicing for our Asian clients.”
Benjamin Chandler, MD, APAC Equity Finance Distribution, UBS further added: “The increased activity in the Asia Pacific equity swap market and the nature of transactions in the region demands an electronic solution. We are thrilled to be at the forefront of a global offering that makes all markets transparent and efficient for our clients.”
Roy Saadon, Co Founder at Traiana stated on behalf of the firm: “The synthetic equity expansion is a natural next step for Traiana, as we continue to provide a unique service with a full cross asset capabilities covering global FX, exchange traded derivatives, cash and synthetic equity, fixed income and OTC derivatives. Our strong partnership with the prime brokers help us prioritise the asset expansion roadmap and this is an indication of the success of this relationship.”
