Liquidnet, the global institutional trading network, today announced that together with Capital Group that they are the first broker and asset manager combination to successfully complete the post-trade lifecycle by utilizing the FIX Protocol.
FIX Protocol has been considered a reliable, open and independent industry standard for years, with many asset managers and brokers adopting the technology for front office messaging pertaining to executions and orders. More recently, some asset managers have also chosen to use FIX to communicate their allocations to their executing brokers. The extension of FIX into confirmation and affirmation by Liquidnet and Capital Group marks the first use of FIX for the complete post-trade life-cycle.
As active members of the FIX Protocol Limited (FPL) Americas Buy-side Working Group, an industry group of broker dealers and investment managers focused on further leveraging FIX protocol for post-trade processing, both companies partnered on the initiative with shared desire for an dependable alternative for allocation and confirmation management.
"At Liquidnet we are constantly searching for new ways to partner with our Members and provide them with value-added solutions to their everyday needs," said Paul McSherry, Head of US Trading Operations at Liquidnet. "By employing FIX Protocol, we now have a reliable and highly customizable tool that enables us to further cater to the buy-side community's evolving needs of minimizing cost, diversifying risk and processing trades seamlessly."
"When we first took on this project, we were looking for an alternative to our current post-trade process. Leveraging our existing front office FIX infrastructure for confirmations seemed an efficient and cost effective solution" said Darrin Vallone, Vice President of Operations at Capital Group. "We put together a great team to work on this project and what they were able to accomplish in such a short time is impressive."
"FIX Protocol provides buy and sell-side firms with a standardized approach for more effective management of risk issues, enhanced transparency, reduced costs and greater efficiencies for equities post-trade processing," said Courtney McGuinn, FIX Protocol Operations Director. "We're thrilled to see early adopters expanding their use of this technology to increase efficiency in the post trade environment."