Barclays Capital introduces equity variance swaps on BARX
Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank Plc, announced today that it has added equity variance swaps to its award-winning BARX via Bloomberg service.
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This is the first electronic trading platform to offer online trading of equity variance swaps.
Users are now able to instantly click-and-trade variance swaps on FTSE 100, Eurostoxx 50, DAX and S&P 500 with Nikkei 225, KOSPI 200 and Nasdaq due to come online shortly. Maturities are typically equivalent to the maturities of exchange traded options and trading hours are consistent with the trading hours of the equivalent listed market.
Dixit Joshi, Head of Equity Derivatives said: "The equity variance swap market has developed significantly in recent years and these instruments have become a mainstream risk management tool. Our BARX platform now provides clients with transparent pricing, click-and-trade functionality, continuous liquidity and a straight-through settlement process for this asset class. This is a natural evolution of this market and we are pleased to be leading the way."
Variance swaps will be available via BXVS on BARX via Bloomberg, and will be targeted primarily at hedge funds and major financial institutions.
Barclays Capital was the first dealer to pioneer the electronic trading of swaps, and remains the leader in terms of number of electronic trades and volume executed and currencies offered. BARX on Bloomberg introduced the first electronic single-dealer trading platform for interest rate swaps in 2003 and was the first to add cross-currency swaps in October 2005.