The FIX Trading Community and Investment Association have published an industry framework aimed at moving equity capital raising towards fully electronic workflows.
Developed by FIX’s Equity Issuance Working Group, the recommended practices set out how the FIX protocol can support digital bookbuilding and deal allocation, initially focusing on Accelerated Bookbuild Offerings (ABOs). The framework covers both direct orders and those placed through vendors or intermediaries.
Equity issuance remains heavily dependent on orders communicated by email, telephone and chat, creating operational risk and limiting automation. The vendor- and system-agnostic framework establishes a standardised approach for communication between investment managers, syndicate banks and technology platforms.
The working group expects future development to extend the standards across IPOs and secondary placements, with the longer-term goal of enabling buy-side traders to place primary-market orders through FIX in much the same way as they currently trade in secondary markets.
Subscribe to our newsletter
