The FIX trading community has agreed a set of best practices for use of the messaging protocol for the exchange of pre-trade information in the bond market, as banks and asset managers work together to overcome a liquidity shortage in fixed income trading.
The proposed standard is set to be adopted by the 26 banks and asset managers supporting Project Neptune, an initiative intended to improve information dissemination among market participants and seal the cracks in an increasingly fragment market.
Twelve global dealers - including Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse - have commissioned consultancy Etrading Software to draw up a feasibility study for Neptune, which would see buyers and sellers sending their inventory data to a single central utility for more efficient dissemination of pre-trade information between market participants.
FIX says its Global Fixed Income Subcommittee is currently reviewing the draft specifications and expects the final release to be ready towards the end of 2014.
“The use of FIX for trading fixed income products is already well-established,” says Sassan Danesh, managing artner, Etrading Software, co-chair, Global Fixed Income Subcommittee. “I am delighted that the industry is now ready to extend the benefits of FIX standardisation to pre-trade information flows.”