The firm has seen significant momentum in take-up of the offering, with twelve early adopter brokers now signed on to the central matching platform around the globe in regions including US, UK, Brazil, Canada, Spain, France and Korea. The early adopters, which include firms such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Newedge Europe, are providing Omgeo with the opportunity to help drive future development of Omgeo CTM.

With broker/dealers now signed on to Omgeo CTM, there is one common platform where broker/dealers and investment managers can interact in both domestic and cross-border markets, enabling increased operational efficiency and exception-only processing. Until now, sell-side clients wishing to leverage automated trade processing for cross-border and non-US trades have utilized Omgeo OASYS Global, while buy-side clients have been able to use the central matching capabilities of Omgeo CTM. Extending access to broker/dealers will enable them to provide greater responsiveness and efficiency to their client base. In addition, it will enable brokers access to future functionality within Omgeo CTM around new asset classes and markets, as well as the most recent improvements in response times and resolution of errors for standing settlement instructions/data.

Geoff Mizen, director, integrated client management, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and co-chair of Omgeo's EMEA advisory board, commented: "We see adoption of Omgeo CTM as a significant opportunity to partner with our clients to enhance straight-through processing. In particular we are focused on getting as many trades as possible affirmed ready for settlement on trade date." Nick Morgan, vice president, securities middle office, also of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, added: "By being one of the first adopters of Omgeo CTM on the broker side we are able to partner with Omgeo on development of the central matching product to manage trading risks in the most optimal way."

Benefits of Omgeo CTM for broker/dealers include:

• Mitigated operational risk through improved same-day affirmation (SDA) and response times, giving brokers a competitive advantage;
  
• Proactive handling of exceptions due to more efficient workflow;
  
• Increased operational performance with the non-sequential nature of the workflow, which can help when buy-side clients benchmark their brokers;
  
• Reduced security risk through enhanced encryption and more current technology;
  
• Improved latency and scalability through faster processing rates and more robust technology.

"Omgeo CTM is our flagship trade matching system to accommodate the dramatic, unprecedented increase in volume, broker take-up, geographic expansion, as well as support for new asset classes," said Steve Matthews, managing director, product at Omgeo. "We have allocated extensive resources to Omgeo CTM, and these initiatives make up the largest single investment of our 2009 product strategy and beyond. Clearly, Omgeo CTM is a critical focus area for Omgeo and it is imperative that we support the continued growth and enhancement of our central matching community."

Central matching accelerates the critical steps of the post-trade, pre-settlement process, providing full transparency into the status of trades and enhances the ability for clients to achieve same-day trade affirmation. Comparatively, local matching relies on traditional message flows in which trade information is provided in a set order, thus adding time to trade settlement. Central trade matching results in a reduction in trade failures and operating costs of up to 70 percent; meanwhile SDA rates soar to 94 percent. Central matching also allows firms to achieve 97 percent affirmation rates by T+1 and 99 percent by T+2.

Omgeo is dedicated to focusing resources on the future development of its central matching platform to remain agile, flexible and responsive to the most pertinent needs of its clients. This provides the global community with access to the newest functionality the firm has to offer.