A group of leading financial institutions have come together to develop a new technology platform to streamline communications within the primary market.
The backers of the new DirectBooks platform include Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo.
DirectBooks aims to bridge the communications gap between underwriters and investors, allowing for more transparency and improved deal execution.
The new utility will be led by former Nymex, CLS and Icap/NEX executive Richard Kerschner, who will act as CEO of DirectBooks' holding company Primary Markets LLC.
BlackRock has already engaged with the company in the development of an integrated issuance process for buyside participants via the Aladdin platform. Connections with other OMS providers and tech suppliers to the buyside will also be forthcoming.
“The creation of DirectBooks is an opportunity to re-engineer the way primary markets function by leveraging technology to improve connectivity, efficiency and accuracy,” say Kamya Somasundaram, head of Americas Credit Capital Markets at BlackRock. “We are lending our expertise as an investor in the primary market as well as a leading provider of order management systems, investment technology and risk analytics, via the Aladdin platform, to enhance the function of the markets for all investors.”