Late last year, LTX, the AI-driven fixed income trading platform backed by Broadridge Financial Solutions, announced a strategic partnership with e-trading technology provider TransFICC, aiming to simplify connectivity for bond dealers by enabling faster onboarding to LTX’s platform through TransFICC’s One API for eTrading.
The new partnership comes in the wake of a similar arrangement with MultiLynq earlier in the year, seeks to address a key challenge in fixed income trading: the complex and time-consuming process of integrating with trading venues. TransFICC’s One API solution allows dealers to connect directly to LTX’s AI-powered platform, reducing operational burdens and enhancing access to LTX’s RFQ+ protocol, which optimises liquidity and pricing discovery in corporate bond markets.
With more than 40 dealers and 90 asset managers already on LTX, this latest move is designed to further expand its community of liquidity providers by making it easier for market participants to join the platform, explains Jim Kwiatkowski, CEO of LTX, in conversation with TradingTech Insight.
“Electronic trading in US corporate credit is growing significantly,” he says. “It’s now around 40%, and trending toward 50%. Second, the cost of electronic trading in corporate credit is high and rising, so both the buy side and dealers are looking for ways to trade more cost-effectively. At the same time, when you talk to dealers, one thing they consistently say is that their technical resources are stretched thin – they’re already fully committed to ongoing projects. This is where TransFICC and MultiLynq add value. They take the integration workload off the dealers by connecting them to trading venues initially, and from there, access to LTX and other venues is simplified. Just as important, any future updates we roll out – whether it’s a new feature, new protocol, or maintenance release – happen seamlessly on the dealer’s end. They don’t need to lift a finger; it all flows through automatically. That’s really what’s driving the growth we’re seeing and why partnerships like the ones with TransFICC and MultiLynq are so important to us.”
The partnership aims to benefit corporate bond dealers active in U.S. Investment Grade, High Yield, and Emerging Market credit markets. By addressing rising costs, fragmentation, workflow complexity, and regulatory challenges, the integration is expected to reduce barriers to entry for dealers looking to leverage LTX’s electronic trading platform.
“From our perspective, this is a market that’s ripe for competition – not just because of rising costs, but also due to the lack of innovation. What we’re hearing from both the buy side and dealers is that they want more innovative and cost-effective trading options. They’re looking for platforms that focus on facilitating trading between market participants rather than competing with them. That’s where LTX comes in – LTX doesn’t compete with dealers. We’re not a dealer ourselves – our role is to help the buy side and dealers trade with each other more efficiently. That’s an important distinction.”
Subscribe to our newsletter
