Fidessa just bagged a big one. While its derivative platform has done well in Europe – around 50 customers to date – today’s announcement, made during the Futures Industry Association’s annual expo here in Chicago, of a worldwide rollout by Citi has put it on the global map.
The managed service will provide initial low-latency connectivity to 28 exchanges, from data centres in London, Chicago, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney and Mumbai. London and Chicago will be the first to go live, later this year.
Fidessa’s BlueBox algo platform – which comes with standard algorithms and the ability for customers to add their own – is expected to play a big part in the deployment, since automated trading in futures is on the rise. That’s partly because regulatory activity is pushing more OTC derivatives towards more transparent marketplaces.
The deal has been in the works for a while – apparently it has its origins in coversations that took place when Citi’s Jerome Kemp was at J.P. Morgan. When Kemp moved to Citi last year, he wanted to make a “game changing” move, and got back in touch.
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