MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, today announced the completion of its acquisition of a majority stake in the RFQ-hub platform, a bilateral multi-asset and multi-dealer request for quote (RFQ) platform with a focus on equity and fixed-income listed and OTC derivatives, structured products and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Following the closing, MarketAxess holds approximately a 90% controlling stake in RFQ-hub.
Kat Sweeney, Global Head of Data and ETF Solutions at MarketAxess, commented, “We see immense potential in combining RFQ-hub technology with our global client network. We have been working with the consortium and the RFQ-hub team for over two years and are already experiencing synergistic wins.
MarketAxess is focused on supporting and expanding the role of fixed-income ETFs and credit futures, as they become increasingly important tools for our clients to manage their exposure to the fixed-income market and unlock liquidity in the underlying bonds,” she continued.
RFQ-hub is a global derivative and ETF platform that has been operating since 2008. In May 2022, Virtu Financial announced the formation of a consortium, RFQ-hub Holdings LLC, to support the growth of RFQ-hub. In addition to MarketAxess and Virtu, founding consortium members included liquidity providers Citadel Securities, Flow Traders and Jane Street Capital, and asset manager BlackRock. All founding members will retain a minority stake and continue to partner with MarketAxess under the new ownership model.