MarketAxess expands municipal product integration with Investortools

MarketAxess has expanded the integration of its municipal bond products with software firm Investortools’ platform to display them through the Investortools Dealer Network.

This collaboration is the next stage of FIX connection integration and will bring together Investortools’ portfolio of analytics and trading tools with MarketAxess’ trading capabilities and CUSIP services for a wide-ranging picture of the fixed-income market, according to a press release.

MarketAxess’ municipal bond platform was integrated into Investortools’ Perform and Smart portfolio management systems, using the FIX protocol, as part of a partnership the two companies announced in 2016. Customers of Investortools can now access the MarketAxess products through the Investortools Dealer Network, the release said.

Offerings posted within the MarketAxess workstation will be sent to the Investortools’ platform via API. Users of Investortools’ will be able to search, view, and lift or bid offerings from the MarketAxess platform, said Adrienne Solti, head of municipal bond client sales at MarketAxess.

The new offering allows users to stay within the Perform platform and make more of their trading decisions directly on the platform, said Jon Anderson, chief product officer and co-head of Investortools.

MarketAxess has “great liquidity” that it’s bringing into Perform, so their mutual clients have a broader liquidity pool that they have access to now and can directly interact within the Perform software,” Anderson noted.

By partnering with Investortools, Solti said allows the company to provide a more efficient trade workflow and a deeper and more functional reach of opportunities to its clients.  

“By MarketAxess having a direct API connection to Investortools’ workstation, we can provide those market participants who are looking to offer their bonds to the market, a broader audience of potential buyers via technology outlets without having to dedicate valuable resources to build out that same workflow internally,” she added.

“Getting [MarketAxess’s] liquidity into the system where traders and portfolio managers are making the decision about what to buy and sell has been very helpful,” Anderson said. “MarketAxess access is complementing what we have with ICE Bonds and Tradeweb Direct on the well on the alternative trading system fronts,” he said. “So it’s helping to round out the platform.”

Additionally, Anderson said the expansion of their existing partnership is part of Investortool’s push to bring the market to its clients.

With Investorools’ portfolio management and trading capabilities, Dan Kelly, head of municipal securities at MarketAxess, said “there is a natural synergy that exists between our two firms.”

“In times of low-level supply and clients being able to do more with less, having additional sources of liquidity to buy and sell bonds paired with innovative technology and ease of execution are key features for this successful integration,” he said.

This partnership, Kelly noted, represents the “next phase of integration within the FIX connectivity and combines the MarketAxess trading capabilities and unique CUSIP offerings with Investortools’ suite of analytics and trading tools for a comprehensive view of the fixed-income market.”

“It’s been us responding to our clients who have been increasingly saying, ‘OK, that’s great. We may still use the platform directly, but we want to see those available securities within Perform so that we can make the decision in the context of all the other data and analytics and tools that we provide,'” Anderson said.

“It’s a logical extension of the relationship that we have had,” he said.