London-headquartered commodities broker Marex Spectron Group Ltd (Marex Spectron) has selected OptionsCity’s Metro, a low-latency futures and options Trading Platform deployed seamlessly via the web, to promote its market-making architecture, according to a company statement.
OptionsCity Software is a Chicago-based provider of futures and options trading and analytics solutions since 2008. The company updated its Metro platform in late October, to offer an in-between option to building or buying new software, and introduced Metro Now, which allows users to download task-specific widgets in the platform.
The Risk Management team of Marex Spectron will utilize Metro’s valuation models and post-execution tools to evaluate and monitor its risk on a continuous real-time basis. The modular architecture of Metro will allow Marex to scale its usage of the platform and automate its processes as business continues to grow.
"After extensive research, we chose OptionsCity Metro for its intuitive out-of-box features delivered on a low-latency architecture," said Nick Benson, the Chief Technology Officer of Marex Spectron.
"In addition, Metro’s modular architecture gives us the ability to extend the platform and build custom algorithms and apps," he added.
"We are pleased to acquire yet another customer in London where we are seeing an increased demand for an innovative options trading software like Metro," said Dan Rooney, VP of Global Sales at OptionsCity Software.
Squeezed Industry
Marex Spectron was formed through a merger of metals and oil brokerage firms in 2011 and is majority owned by British private equity house JRJ Group. Since 2012, the company has cut its headcount by roughly a sixth to just above 500, focusing on its core energy and metals business and benefiting from many banks pulling back from commodities dealing.
Earlier last month, the company which specializes in voice broking and also offers electronic and on-exchange dealing, reported a record operating profit of $22.7 million for its 2015 year. Gross revenues amounted to $348 million, down $20 million from the $368 million reported in 2014, but costs had been reduced by $29 million which helped drive operating profits to a record.
Revenues in the commodities broking sector were in general squeezed since the 2008 global crisis due to harsh regulations and the overall shift to electronic trading, leading some to questions about the future of the industry.
