MTS and Newedge launch new ACM platform

RNS Number : 9355W

London Stock Exchange Group PLC

07 February 2012

 



MTS and Newedge launch Agency Cash Management (ACM) platform for tri-party repo market

-    Transparent, electronic platform offers investors access to low-risk, secured money market investments

-    Offers benefits of tri-party repo to the buy-side and delivers new pools of liquidity to the sell-side

-    Provides access to wholesale pricing with cash placed via daily cash auctions

London, 7 February 2012: MTS, Europe's premier facilitator for the European fixed income trading market, has launched its Agency Cash Management (ACM) platform, a new electronic auction facility for the tri-party repo market. The platform, which has already registered its first trades, has been launched in association with Newedge, a global leader in multi-asset brokerage.

The ACM platform enables investors to enter into secured money market investments using the tri-party repo mechanism*. It has been launched in response to increasing demand from institutions for an innovative solution to the cash management challenges currently being faced by both the buy- and sell-side. The platform uses the same technology that facilitates the MTS fixed income trading market, combining secure investment opportunities with the high levels of transparency offered by electronic trading.

Under a repurchase agreement, also known as a repo or sale and repurchase agreement, investors lend cash for a short period of time to another party. Financial securities are used as collateral for the loan, together with an agreement for the seller to buy back the security at a pre-agreed rate of interest and an agreed term.

The ACM platform creates an alternative to the traditional suite of unsecured money market products, and offers access to low-risk secured investment opportunities for buy-side institutions such as corporates, asset managers, bank treasurers, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, securities lenders, insurance companies, banks and hedge funds.

By bringing a new pool of cash providers to the market, the platform will also benefit banks facing continued pressure to diversify their sources of funding in the face of new regulations planned under Basel III.

The ACM platform allows investors to select acceptable counterparties, rating of collateral, currencies and trade duration. Collateral is held in a segregated account in the investor's name at an established tri-party agent, typically a highly-rated custodian bank, and is subject to transfer of ownership that can be sold on demand if the counterparty defaults.

Oliver Clark, Money Market Product Manager at MTS, said:

"The successful launch of our new Agency Cash Management platform addresses the demand for an innovative cash management solution for both banks and buy-side investors. ACM introduces the tri-party repo mechanism to a new group of participants in the form of corporates, hedge funds and securities lenders in a competitive, electronic auction platform. The cash providers benefit from the security of tri-party repo in place of unsecured money market products and their counterparty banks with an alternative source of funding."

Angela Osborne and Ulf Bacher, Co-Heads of the Agency Cash Management business at Newedge, added:

"The new ACM platform has opened one of the biggest money market products to a new audience that will ensure best execution for cash investments via our auction methodology.

"Newedge is delighted to be working with MTS on this initiative. Our partnership brings together market experience and best-in-class technology to offer the benefits of tri-party repo to the buy-side whilst delivering new pools of liquidity to the sell-side."

The ACM operates as a Multilateral Trading Facility (as defined under MiFID regulation and FSA supervision) by EuroMTS Limited. 

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For further information please contact:

MTS press contacts

Media Relations:

Lucie Holloway

+ 44 (0) 20 7797 1222

MTS contacts

Oliver Clark

[phone]

Notes to editors:

* Repo and Tri-Party Repo

A repurchase agreement, also known as a repo or sale and repurchase agreement, allows an investor to borrow cash for a short period of time from another party using financial securities as collateral for the loan, together with an agreement for the seller to buy back the security at a pre-agreed rate of interest and an agreed term. A repo can be conducted via the tri-party repo mechanism in which the settlement process is administered by an independent third party known as a tri-party agent. The agent, usually a highly-rated Custodian bank, ensures both the cash and collateral are exchanged within a legal framework that recognises full transfer of title.

About MTS:

MTS is Europe's premier facilitator for the electronic fixed income trading market, with over 500 unique counterparties and average daily volumes exceeding EUR 85 billion. MTS customers benefit from its relationship with Europe's leading diversified exchange business, the London Stock Exchange Group, which operates the largest and most liquid equity marketplace in Europe.

MTS markets provide the professional trading environment for the interdealer marketplace, enabling primary dealers from across the globe to access unparalleled liquidity, transparency and coverage. 

The MTS Repo platform delivers an order driven market for the electronic transaction of repo agreements and buy/sellbacks. ACM is an electronic auction-trading platform that uses the MTS Repo technology to enable cash-rich investors to enter into secured money market investments via the tri-party repo mechanism.

MTS further facilitates the dealer-to-client bond market through BondVision, the most trusted and efficient electronic bond trading market, delivering exceptional access for institutional investors direct to the market makers, while MTS Credit delivers an electronic market for a wide range of euro-denominated non-government bonds.

MTS Data is sourced directly and exclusively from the MTS interdealer market and includes benchmark real-time data, reference data, reference prices, time series data and snap-shot data, providing the benchmark data source on the fixed income market.

MTS Indices provide the first independent, transparent, real-time and tradable eurozone fixed income indices, based on tradable prices from MTS. MTS indices are tracked by (and can be traded via) 30 ETFs in addition to numerous structured products.

www.mtsmarkets.com

About London Stock Exchange Group:

London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L) sits at the heart of the world's financial community. The Group operates a broad range of international equity, bond and derivatives markets, including London Stock Exchange; Borsa Italiana; MTS, Europe's leading fixed income market; and Turquoise, offering UK and Russian derivatives trading, pan-European and US lit and dark equity trading. Through its markets, the Group offers international business unrivalled access to Europe's capital markets.

The Group is a leading developer of high performance trading platforms and capital markets software and also offers its customers around the world access and an extensive range of real-time and reference data products and market-leading post-trade services. The Group is also home to a world leading index provider FTSE, which creates and manages of over 200,000 equity, bond and alternative asset class indices.

Headquartered in London, United Kingdom with significant operations in Italy and Sri Lanka, the Group employs around 1,850 people.

Further information on London Stock Exchange Group can be found at www.londonstockexchangegroup.com

 

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