Trade matching venture Omgeo has outlined plans to partner with vendors of order management systems and FIX engines in developing a solution for the automation of allocations earlier in the trade cycle.
The initiative, dubbed Deal Time STP, will provide an industry-accepted alternative for processing automated allocations, says Omgeo. It may also be seen as a pre-emptive response to recent proposals from the Bond Market Association to build a 'Common Message Hub' for electronic trade matching in the fixed income markets.
Much like the BMA's proposals, Deal Time STP will enable firms to process deals using a single connection. It will also allow investment managers to send automated FIX allocations to broker dealers, irrespective of their current ability to process them.
Omgeo says allocations are still one of the most manually driven processes and the new system will increase trade settlement efficiency and improve both internal and industry-wide external STP. The vendor believes the BMA's Messaging Hub will duplicate processes that can be more elegantly attained by embedding FIX in order management systems.
Kathy Ball-Toncic, executive director of global partners at Omgeo, says: "Standards such as the FIX protocol are very important in addressing the industry’s STP needs. Omgeo and FIX are all about aligning standards and protocols - we know that a fragmented industry is an inefficient industry."
The service is expected to go live in Q3 2003.