MTS To Increase Cross-Border Trading

MTS Media Original article can be found here.
By Shanny Basar (Markets Media)
May 23, 2019 - ​MTS Markets International, the electronic fixed income trading venue owned by the London Stock Exchange Group, has increased volumes of hard currency emerging market debt as it partners with broker Marco Polo Securities to increase access from frontier and emerging markets.
David Parker, head of MTS Markets International, told Markets Media: “We have seen a doubling of our volume traded in hard currency emerging market debt.”Marco Polo Securities is going to include MTS BondsPro, the corporate bond electronic trading platform that is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, in its marketing to institutional clients in frontier and emerging markets across nearly 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.Vinode Ramgopal, chairman of Marco Polo, said in a statement: “The MTS BondsPro platform allows more than 50 securities firms on our platform to secure direct access to the liquidity of US debt markets. We share with MTS and London Stock Exchange Group a vision to accelerate the growth of local capital markets and this agreement is another step in our mission to lower barriers to cross-border trading and add to a deeper global liquidity pool.”Parker said: “Marco Polo is very well positioned as it has relationships with local emerging market banks and chaperones them in meetings with US asset managers.”Investors in frontier and emerging markets will be able to trade with  more than 400 broker dealers and buy-side clients on MTS BondsPro’s anonymous all-to-all order book.“The US is the most active global bond market so every investor wants to be involved, and we can lower barriers to entry,” added Parker. “A year ago we extended trading to 22 hours so we can provide electronic access, which is much more efficient, to non-US clients.”
Trading across 22 hours allows activity in different time zones across the US, Europe and Asia.Emerging market bonds
Parker continued that US investors have also been showing increasing interest in emerging market bonds.
“Emerging market bonds have become more popular and are a big source of electronic trading growth,” he added. “The challenge is having regulatory permissions in addition to putting the right pipes in place.”

MarketAxess, the electronic fixed income trading venue, said in its first quarter results that it had record trading volume in each of its four core products including emerging market bonds. Total emerging market volume was $116bn in MarketAxess’ first quarter, up 10% year-on-year. Local markets trading volume rose 22% as bonds in 26 different emerging local currency bond markets traded during the period.

Kevin McPartland, head of research for market structure and technology at consultancy Greenwich Associates, said in a report last year that 70% of US investors are trading emerging market fixed income products electronically, making up 14% of notional volume traded.
Greenwich’s study, Emerging Market Bond Traders Embrace E-Trading, found that nearly one third of asset managers and half of the hedge funds in the US expect their volumes in emerging markets fixed income to increase in the coming year and at least 70% of those investors will execute some trades electronically.

McPartland wrote: “Technology is increasing the flow of information, removing the language hurdle and connecting disparate brokers and investors from all over the world, allowing trades to consummate that only a few years ago would have been too expensive, if not impossible, to get done.”

MTS BondsPro
Parker said: “There has been a systematic change in the industry as electronic market making has increased, and we facilitate by acting as a central hub between the buy and sell side.”

He continued that overall trading on BondsPro in 2018 grew 65% year-on-year and is up another 30% so far this year.

MTS BondVision, the dealer-to-client request for quote platform, launched an auto execution tool last year which Parker said has seen a lot of success with clients. MTS Auto Execution allows traders to upload transactions directly from their order management system and BondVision automatically handles the RFQ and execution within customised execution parameters.

“In the credit markets on BondsPro, we now have close to 20 firms providing automated market making — and three years ago that was zero,” he added. “The activity of those players increases price transparency, and the whole market benefits from tighter spreads.”


Marco Polo Platform Enables Berlin-Based East Value Research to Access US Investors

NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Marco Polo Securities, the New York-based broker-dealer, is pleased to announce that Berlin-headquartered research boutique, East Value Research, is expanding its access to US investors via the Marco Polo regulatory platform.

Marco Polo has dozens of relationships with securities firms throughout Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Americas, and enables clients to market their local capabilities and products to international investors. The solution, in turn, provides the investors with access to local exchange-listed securities as well as locally originated private placement and M&A investment opportunities.

Adrian Kowollik, Managing Partner at East Value Research, said, "We are looking forward to expanding our business opportunities in the United States. There are many promising smaller companies in the Emerging Europe region, which are seeking access to international investors. Joining the Marco Polo platform is an investment that allows us to approach investors from North America while ensuring US regulatory compliance."

"We are delighted to have East Value Research in our global network of brokers. Emerging Europe offers excellent opportunities for global investors and we are pleased to bridge these opportunities with the US investment community under our regulatory umbrella," said Steve Carlson, Chairman of Marco Polo Securities.

About East Value Research 
East Value Research is a leading, management-owned research boutique with a focus on companies from Emerging Europe. Research products are directly distributed to more than 200 mutual and pension funds, family offices and independent asset managers from Central and Eastern Europe, the German-speaking region, Scandinavia, France and UK. In addition, reports are published on platforms such as Thomson Reuters, Capital IQ, Factset, Researchpool.com, Rsrchxchange.com, ERI-C.com, Visiblealpha.com, PAP and ISBNews, thus ensuring that they are available to institutions from around the world. By organizing roadshows and conferences, East Value Research provides investors with direct access to corporate decision makers.
The team consists of professionals with long capital market experience in both Western Europe and the CEE region.

Further information on East Value Research is available at www.eastvalueresearch.com.

Contact East Value Research
Adrian Kowollik (Managing Partner)
Email: a.kowollik@eastvalueresearch.com
Phone:  +49 30 20609082


About Marco Polo Securities Inc.  
Marco Polo Securities Inc. is a US-registered broker-dealer offering global execution, regulatory and distribution capabilities. Marco Polo began as a pioneer in cross-border electronic trading infrastructure to enable global institutional flows. Today, Marco Polo Securities has a robust network of securities firms around the world and provides a wide range of regulatory and global distribution solutions for capital raising, trading, research, and wealth management. Marco Polo is a member of FINRA, NFA and SIPC.

Further information on Marco Polo Securities is available at www.mpsecurities.com.

Contact Marco Polo Securities Inc.
Business Development
+1 347 745 6448
clientservices@mpsecurities.com