This is a sponsored advertorial from Marketaxess

If someone who truly understands the unique workflow of private banks built a highly customisable tool to make fixed-income trading simple, would you embrace it?

Erik Tham, head of Private Banking at MarketAxess, has done exactly that. After years working as a head of desk, team lead and execution trader at a global wealth manager, he joined the innovative fintech leader to craft a solution specifically tailored for private banks. “With high numbers of orders in all sizes, across a diverse mix of products around the clock — many with limits requiring constant monitoring — you need an efficient, holistic approach taking the entire execution process into account, from start to finish, “explains Tham. “With that in place, you can focus on the time critical or high-value, high-touch trades at the heart of private banking relationships.” This deep understanding and attention to detail mean that, finally, a global trading platform treats you the same way you treat your clients.

Erik’s expertise and MarketAxess’ two decades of experience electronifying bond markets is a powerful combination, making it easy for private banks to get ahead of the technology curve without sacrificing their traditional focus on client needs. The effort dovetails with the increasing acceptance of electronic bond trading throughout Asia. Last year, MarketAxess saw a 74% year-on-year growth in total trading volume in APAC.

With Asian private banks growing rapidly, it’s not hard to see why keyboards are becoming more popular than phones, expanding capacity without increasing headcount. Using trading protocols like Request for Quote (RFQ) saves traders time by simplifying price discovery — seeing all available firm prices or spreads simultaneously — and ending the headache of juggling telephone receivers or spreadsheets.  Electronic List Trading facilitates the execution of multiple trades with different liquidity sources simultaneously. And MarketAxess’ all-to-all solution, Open Trading® connects over 1,800 firms globally, bringing liquidity to fragmented markets, and enabling smaller private banks to overcome the constraints of their dealers’ networks. It also saved MarketAxess’ clients over US$1.1 billion in transaction costs last year.

Axess IQ wraps the benefits of electronic trading into an easy-to-use tool that Tham’s team has created for private bank workflows. All incoming orders can be managed, prioritised, and open ones monitored, while aggregating liquidity and price data into a single view. When Axess IQ sees opportunities it flags them, identifying potential areas of automation. Trading desks can then focus on bigger or more complex trades demanding full attention and expertise.

Like everything creating value this century, Axess IQ is powered by data. Synthesising and distilling best-in-class data becomes easy, including Composite+, MarketAxess’ award-winning algorithmic predictive pricing engine. Unlike other data providers who only stream dealers’ indicative prices, Composite+ uses AI to provide greater accuracy and a truer picture of where the market is moving. It’s built upon a reciprocal relationship with traders — they execute on MarketAxess’ platform and benefit from the data created. A virtuous circle leading to better execution.

This same data-driven approach can be used by relationship managers in their investment decision process. The increased transparency and market insight provided by Axess IQ and MarketAxess’ array of data products means decision-makers and traders work in synch, ensuring the value chain is efficient and cohesive. Gone are endless phone calls to gauge the state of play, “Is it a liquid bond? Can you get me a better price? What’s the latest price you’ve seen?” Instead, decisions and execution respond to market conditions. The trading desk receives orders that are more likely to execute or yield better alpha and the relationship manager has a better view of what’s going on in the market.

This integrated transparency reflects MarketAxess’ unsiloed approach. When tailoring their solution for individual bank workflows, they work not only with the trading desk, but also with other stakeholders from investment advisors, COO and IT teams.

Axess IQ is a one-stop-shop that efficiently handles the unique workflow of private bank fixed-income trading and creates more time to deliver a high-touch service together with superior execution. Which of course, keeps the end client happy.

This is a sponsored advertorial from Marketaxess