The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has launched the country's first Web site for trading secondary market bonds and commercial paper online.
The new facility is a part of the bank's ecommcorporate site, launched in 1999 as a B2B transactional service offering online FX, cash accounts and payments for corporate and institutional clients.
Since launching, ecommcorporate has increased FX functionality to include pre-deliveries, extensions and optional dated forwards as well as introducing standard settlement instructions and nett settlements. It has also been used for the primary execution of new debt issues (wholesale and retail bonds) in Australia.
Peter Prowse, global head of ecommerce, Commonwealth Bank financial markets, says the delivery of secondary market bonds and CP trading is another step towards meeting the online expectations of wholesale clients.
Clients will be able to order, sell or switch between government, semi-government and corporate bonds, manage their portfolios online, view indicative prices, access the latest research and utilise tools and calculators, he says.
Prowse adds: "We will also be introducing bank bills, fixed term deposits, FX options and a number of risk management and portfolio analysis tools over the coming months."
The bank has set a 12 month target to boost ecomm subscribers from 2000 to 6000.