London-based interest rate derivative Trading Platform Trad-X announced it has added UniСredit as a dealer and Actiam as a non-dealer to its dealer-to-client (D2C) electronic central limit order book (CLOB).
UniCredit will join existing dealers JP Morgan, BNP Paribas and Commerzbank in providing Liquidity to non-dealers. It will stream two-way pricing to a range of smaller banks and buy-side clients trading Eurex-cleared instruments, Trad-X revealed.
Utrecht-based Actiam successfully joined the platform as a non-dealer, diversifying the type of non-dealers supporting CLOB execution methodology.
Trad-X has worked closely with its clients to improve liquidity and introduce a range of new products, including one-year instruments and IMM structures.
Direct access to executable liquidity
“Non-dealers are really interested in the CLOB execution process for standardised products,” said Philippe Dudon, chief operating officer at Trad-X. “Platforms like Trad-X D2C offer direct access to displayed executable liquidity under a mandatory-cleared environment enforced by MiFID II, and this is creating new execution opportunities for non-dealers. Seamless onboarding and minimised costs of execution are strong criteria to continue attracting new participants into Trad-X-D2C.”
“UniCredit is proud to provide liquidity for clients in the Eurex-cleared D2C CLOB, thereby contributing to an increasingly transparent and efficient market for Euro interest rate swaps,” Magnus Inness, UniCredit’s head of flow interest rate derivatives, added.
Rick Stassen, who works in treasury and execution at Actiam, said that the firm sees technology as the main driver of change in the industry.
“By using the Trad-X CLOB, we are finding new levels of transparency, certainty and an alternative source of liquidity. It has the potential to give buy-side firms such as ourselves the possibility to become a price maker rather than just a price taker, and therefore improve market quality and efficiency. We trust the platform will gain traction over time and that other market participants embrace this initiative, as it would open up the door to a new range of trading strategies,” Strassen concluded.
