Order management systems provider Tradeware has acquired the business assets of Broker To Broker Networks and its UK operating subsidiary Omiris Networks, which provides cross-border connectivity, with the aim of offering a low cost cross-border execution and settlement service. As part of the acquisition, Tradeware has formed a new UK subsidiary, Tradeware Global (U.K.) Ltd., and plans to offer cross-border execution and settlement services at less than $15 per transaction, which it claims compare with fully coasted price of $100 to $300 per trade currently being charged across Europe.
Tradeware Global will offer a product that combines Tradeware Systems’ Financial Information eXchange (FIX)-based order management system and connectivity technology with Omiris Networks’ DMA platform. The aim is that this combined platform will support real-time access to the central limit order books at 22 stock exchanges in 16 European securities markets, as well as offering a settlement management services. The platform will provide Tradeware’s US broker/dealer customers with direct trading connectivity to these European markets and will increase opportunities for European financial institutions to efficiently access US and Canadian securities markets and investors.
“The increasing global importance of cross-border investment has created an unsatisfied need for a truly disruptive technology, and that in turn has created new market opportunities,” says Tradeware Chairman John J. Marino. “Tradeware Global’s non-broker/dealer-owned utility is just such a technology. Our platform will satisfy the growing institutional demand for efficient international DMA, as well as the industry’s requirements for best execution practices, order audit trail (OATS) information and general market and transaction transparency. Consequently, Tradeware Global is the only solution capable of electronically managing the full lifecycle of a trade within a single commercial relationship. The resulting cost savings will be tremendous, allowing Tradeware Global to charge less than $15 per cross-border transaction.”
“Equally important,” Marino adds, “Tradeware Global will continue the Tradeware tradition of total trading neutrality, allowing its customers to function as agent in 16 European markets, just as Tradeware customers currently do when trading on listed and OTC markets in the United States. In addition, the combined Tradeware/Omiris network will provide our broker/dealer customers with direct connectivity for executing trades on and between US and European markets.”
“In the four years since the founding of Omiris Networks, Charles Giessen and his London-based team have addressed all of the technical, regulatory and currency-related inefficiencies that have long made cross-border trading so complex, slow and expensive,” says Marino. “Using the Omiris platform, broker/dealers in, for instance, Paris or Helsinki can execute and process the same trades in, for example, Germany, in combination with local German brokers, just as if they were operating in Frankfurt. Tradeware Global will extend this functionality across the Atlantic using B2B’s unique regulatory status, providing American investors, brokers and financial institutions with their first access to real-time trading and T+1 clearing and settlement on European securities markets.”
Giuseppe Bonini, co-head of Global Brokerage for Milan-based BANCA IMI, says that Omiris has helped Banca IMI expand globally. “Tradeware’s acquisition of Omiris only increases the opportunities and broadens the scope of value-added services that will benefit Banca IMI and its customers,” he says. “Tradeware Global will be an even stronger partner, and we look forward to working with them.”
“Low-cost, cross-border execution and settlement is an unprecedented product that will expand Tradeware’s presence beyond its strong base in North America,” concludes Marino. “Acquiring the assets of B2B and Omiris Networks enables us to provide US financial institutions with increased order-flow opportunities from Europe, which will further accelerate Tradeware’s growth in its home country. In the coming months, we plan to introduce additional products and services that will further broaden our offerings and reduce our customers’ operating costs.”
Founded in 1993, Tradeware specializes in FIX-based equity order management systems, FIX connectivity solutions, and front-to-back office integration and compliance reporting services. Tradeware claims its platform provides connectivity for approximately 95 percent of the buy side and all major US listed and OTC marketplaces. Tradeware currently handles about seven percent of NYSE daily volume. The Company’s service bureau business model offers customers trading neutrality, and is used by over 250 brokerage firms and institutional investors around the world.