genesis, the international capital markets software firm, today launched the Automated Quoting System (AQS). Built with alpha-driven fixed income desks in mind, AQS will transform trading by automating internal workflows between the trading desk, institutional clients, asset managers and wealth managers, leaving traders free to focus on risk management and market opportunities.

All trading desks need to automate to meet their regulatory obligations and prove transparency. For fixed income desks this is a top priority, not just in the wake of the new regulation impacting the market, but to reduce costs, improve efficiency and redefine operating models.

In the journey towards electronification, trading desks often rely on legacy workflows; quotes, orders and trades are processed using a multitude of external trading platforms. The process for organising and responding to fixed income requests for quotes (RFQs) mean that alpha generating opportunities are missed.

As the number of fixed income execution venues increase traders are unable to take advantage of the bigger marketplace because they are only able to respond to RFQs through the user-interface provided by their trading platform. This means that sell-side traders have to interact with an overwhelming number of platforms. While on the buy-side, the adoption of electronic trading has caused an increase in the number of RFQ enquiries. Sell-side traders receive multiple RFQs every minute throughout the trading day.

genesis’ AQS has been deployed at one of the world’s largest broker-dealers to deliver efficient pricing and workflow management which is fully auditable from a compliance perspective. Institutional sales desks, asset managers and wealth managers automate requests for quotes to the trading desk for fixed income. The trading desk automatically receives and prices the quotes based on live market data, business intelligence, current positions, risk limits, client settings and trader settings. AQS also enables the automation of inventory distribution, highlighting trading positions and how much to make available. The solution can support multiple asset classes including equities, funds and certificates of deposit, but there is increasing demand in fixed income to automate internal workflows and integrate with external quoting platforms.

Commenting on AQS, Stephen Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of genesis, said: “There is no doubt that fixed income is undergoing substantial change driven by regulation and the electronic trading that we have witnessed in equity and foreign exchange markets. We are very excited to be launching  AQS, not just in response to the industry and regulatory requirements, but to empower trading desks to maximise opportunities and streamline costs by providing end-to-end electronic workflow capture and management from the front-office to post-trade, that is all fully compliant and auditable. ”