Handelsbanken and Danske Bank have joined TradeWeb, the dealer-backed online fixed income trading platform which is rumoured to be the subject of an impending takeover by Reuters.
The two new dealers boost the total number of market makers on the platform to 24 and provide the backing for trading in Scandinavian government bonds. Their participation in the network follows the entry of Nordea and SEB earlier this year.
News of the expansion in trading comes as rumours persist of a possible sale of TradeWeb by its eight investment bank owners. Reuters is understood to be running the rule over the network as it bids to compete with Bloomberg in the fixed income space.
The news and information group currently has an information distribution deal with eSpeed, but shut down its own European fixed income broker-dealer operation at Instinet last year. The company recently recruited former Moneyline Telerate man Jon Ronson in an effort to beef up its fixed income division, with a view to potential acquisition-led investment.