AEGON Asset Management, one of the world’s largest asset-managers, became the first buy-side institution to execute a euro IRS trade on Trad-X’s D2C CLOB. BNP Paribas was the counterparty, and the transaction was cleared by Eurex Clearing AG.

Trad-X D2C is a pure electronic MTF CLOB offering impartial access. Dealers (qualified under fair and objective criteria) provide liquidity for clients that can execute on existing liquidity, as well as place live resting orders.

The platform is designed to replicate many of the benefits offered to dealers trading via a CLOB model. This includes real-time, executable pricing with live updates for a wide range of swap products, tighter spreads and reduced information leakage.

Dan Marcus, CEO of Trad-X, comments: “The completion of our first trades between dealer and non-dealer counterparties validates our model, proving it to be a credible alternative to RFQ protocols. We expect this to be particularly beneficial for non-dealers trading standardised interest rate swap products, as it enables access to pricing for a wide range of trading instruments from multiple dealers in a very cost effective manner.”

Derek Milner, Senior Portfolio Manager at AEGON Asset Management, comments: “Trad-X’s central order book for non-dealers lowers barriers to market entry and we are pleased to be the first institution to complete a trade with a dealer on the platform. This is a genuine step forward in terms of innovation. We hope this gains traction across the market and increases the quality of pricing and efficiency of execution for all market participants. We believe the main advantages of this platform are certainty of execution, anonymity and access to offsetting non-dealers’ exposures.”

Francois Puget, Head of G10 Rates Trading Europe at BNP Paribas, comments: “We are delighted to be the first dealer to execute a transaction on Trad-X D2C CLOB which underpins our commitment to provide the best comprehensive offer to fit our clients’ needs. Supporting innovation in collaboration with Trad-X and Eurex further emphasises BNP Paribas’ leadership as a market maker in interest rate derivatives and our expertise in electronic execution.”

Danny Chart, Head of Fixed Income Business Development at Eurex Clearing AG, comments: “We very much welcome the first trades which were executed on Trad-X Dealer to Client (D2C) central limit order book and cleared at Eurex Clearing. This innovative platform provides our buy-side clients with access to a viable alternative liquidity pool - further increasing execution protocol options, distribution of price discovery and depth of market - as well as facilitating our development of an EU-based alternative for Euro Clearing at Eurex.”