Banc of America Securities' (BAS) Electronic Trading Services (ETS) group has announced the launch of Premier Block Trading (PBT), a real-time electronic block execution system for orders of up to $20 million on more than 1000 individual stocks.
BAS says the PBT system provides institutional traders with anonymity, ease of use and control, along with its capital commitment to execute block orders.
Users submit requests for block prices via PBT's Web interface and can execute orders in a simple "hit and take" way. The system's block execution technology connects clients directly and anonymously to BAS' capital.
Block pricing algorithms provide indicative two-way prices anonymously. Prices for stocks across Russell 1000 stock universe and selected ETFs reflect current, real-time changes in volatility, liquidity, time of day and BAS' risk profile.
Rob Flatley, managing director of ETS says: "This product is going to be hugely appealing to firms who manage market risk on multi-million dollar positions, because they can anonymously seek and obtain liquidity from Banc of America Securities. Buy-side traders will have complete control of large block orders with no risk of information leakage."
An early trial of PBT with more than twenty clients has been successful, says BAS, and the general release of the system will be available in July.