The opportunity to invest in companies at an early stage of their development can be risky, but it can also yield above-average returns. Unfortunately, primary and initial public offering (IPO) markets are often reserved only for institutional investors or major players, leaving out retail investors. Virtu Financial intends to change this with the assistance of InvestorLink, a primary market technology provider. Their goal is to facilitate and broaden access, addressing the ever-growing demand from this segment.
Virtu Financial to Make Primary Markets More Accessible
Virtu Financial's capabilities in market making, order routing, and data modeling have been combined with InvestorLink's technological solutions to meet the increasing interest of retail investors in primary and IPO markets.
InvestorLink's order management and AI-powered matching platform will now function with Virtu's vast global infrastructure. This grants underwriters access to Virtu's extensive network of retail broker-dealers. Additionally, there is an extension to support access to secondary market liquidity .
"We are delighted to collaborate with InvestorLink to help connect retail brokers with hard-to-access investment solutions," Stephen Kay, the Global Head of Broker-Dealer Sales at Virtu, stated. "By combining Virtu's connectivity to all major custodians, clearing firms, and TAMPs with InvestorLink's advanced primary market technology solutions, we are confident in our ability to drive significant value for all stakeholders."
The Future of Market Participation
This new collaboration is primed to change conventional market structures. All participants can anticipate advantages like improved access, better liquidity, and heightened transparency. The cumulative effect is anticipated to lead to a market ecosystem that operates with higher efficiency.
Matt Michel, the Founder and Managing Partner of InvestorLink, spoke about the newest partnership with Virtu Financial, emphasizing its significance in advancing retail connectivity to primary markets. Michel highlighted the use of their technology platform to bridge Virtu's retail broker network with primary capital markets.
"Together, we will build on InvestorLink's track record of providing access to billions of dollars of primary market products by delivering interoperability to offerings across equity and fixed-income markets. We are excited to leverage Virtu's global reach and expertise in serving retail investors' needs to create a data-driven solution offering enhanced distribution and execution for the 28 leading investment banks we support," he concluded.
Virtu's Latest Results and Staff Reshuffles
According to the recent financial statement from July, the electronic market maker based in New York reported a decrease in revenue and net trading income for Q2 of this year. The total revenue for this quarter amounted to $506.9 million, marking a decrease of 17% quarter-over-quart (QoQ) and a decrease of 16.2% year-over-year (YoY).
Virtu recorded a net trading income of $306.2 million for the previous quarter. This indicates a reduction of 26% QoQ from $411.5 million and a decline of 23% from the $395.9 million earned during the same time in 2022.
In 2022, the revenue and net trading income were lower than the previous year. Specifically, the fourth quarter saw a significant reduction of 43.6% YoY in total revenue, coming in at $274.1 million as opposed to the $485.6 million reported the year before.
On another note, Virtu announced a leadership change. Michael Viola is set to succeed Robert Greifeld as the Chairman after Greifeld stepped down. Greifeld has been leading Virtu Financial as its Chairman since July 2017.
