Today Neptune Networks Ltd., the fixed income market network for pre-trade indications in bonds, reported that it has completed connectivity to FlexTrade’s buy-side EMS platform, FlexTRADER, to distribute high quality, pre-trade data to assist investors with liquidity and price discovery within existing workflows.

With 22 dealers committed to the platform, over $110bn of gross notional and more than 20,000 axe/inventory items updating real time across 11,000 individual bonds (including Investment Grade, High Yield, Emerging Markets and select Rates from 20 different denominations), Neptune continues to expand from its original focus on European corporate bonds to a portfolio that also reflects the global nature and reach of its user base.

Matthew York, Product Owner – Fixed Income at FlexTrade, commented: "Quality, targeted pre-trade indications are a key component to assist buy-side traders in implementing their desired execution policy. Using this information in pre-trade venue selection along with recording the available data throughout the order and execution lifecycle will aide dealers in fulfilling their best execution requirements. The standardised, commoditised delivery mechanism Neptune employs allows this to be integrated into FlexTRADER in an efficient and cost effective way.”

Neptune offers a commoditised and open standard FIX network that allows banks and investors to exchange-controlled and targeted real-time axe and inventory using a robust data governance model. It minimises unintended information leakage whilst remaining part of the investor’s existing workflow. By focusing on the creation of a technology utility to directly exchange this information, Neptune enables greater transparency of trading interests between buyers and sellers of bonds – usually banks and investors such as asset managers.

The Neptune network allows asset managers to connect to the sell-side via any combination of the Neptune GUI, proprietary OMS/EMS or OMS/EMS providers such as FlexTrade. The flexibility of connectivity options means they will be receiving real-time, pre-trade indications from multiple banks through a single connection that is integrated into their current workflow.

Grant Wilson, CEO, Neptune Networks Ltd, said: “We are pleased to have our latest EMS connected to Neptune and we look forward to partnering with further providers in the coming weeks and months as we continue to expand access to the platform. Enhancing the flow of electronic pre-trade information has been a focus of market participants for many years. For Neptune to have achieved such a significant amount of aggregated liquidity from market leading institutions in a relatively short period is testament both to our core principles of standardisation and to the tremendous support we have had from banks and asset managers who have collaborated closely with us and each other, to create an open standard, technology-based, non-profit utility.”

As more participants join and the quantity of data increases, it is a core principle of the Neptune network to enhance the quality of the data. Neptune’s unique combination of data ownership, open-standard technology and collaboration creates an environment where the sell-side are comfortable delivering the highest quality, structured data to their clients. This quality will continue to be a core focus for the Neptune utility as the participants and data on the network grow.

Byron Cooper-Fogarty, Head of Sales, Neptune Networks Ltd, said: “Connectivity to an EMS vendor such as FlexTrade is precisely what our buy-side clients are seeking from Neptune. It provides the ability to consume an aggregated feed of the highest quality bond axes, which in turn allows them to be more targeted in their enquiries for large size bond execution. As the EMS becomes a more important part of fixed income, we are well placed to serve our clients with minimal disruption to their workflow.”