MarketAxess Joins Investortools Dealer Network Expanding Electronic Muni Trading

Posted on 06.08.23
Featured Posts, Press Release
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CHICAGO and NEW YORK, JUNE 8, 2023 – MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, today announced that it will expand its municipal bond integration with the Investortools’ platform and display its offerings within the Investortools Dealer Network (IDN). This partnership represents the next phase of integration within the FIX® connectivity and will combine the MarketAxess trading capabilities and unique CUSIP offerings with Investortools’ suite of analytics and trading tools for a comprehensive view of the fixed income market. 

Investortools is a software firm that specializes in solutions for fixed income portfolio management, trading, compliance, credit analysis, and benchmark risk analysis. In 2016, MarketAxess and Investortools announced a partnership highlighting the integration of the MarketAxess Municipal Bond Platform within the Investortools Perform® and Smart™ portfolio management systems, using the FIX® protocol. Now, Investortools customers will have access to the MarketAxess offerings from within the IDN. The IDN is an industry first that gives asset managers direct click-to-bid and click-to-trade access to liquidity throughout Investortools’ Perform® software for a straight-through-processing experience. It is the only platform of its kind to allow users the ability to lift, bid, and negotiate trades without needing to pivot away from the system. 

“Order routing integrations with MarketAxess have been a valuable part of our clients’ trading ecosystem for seven years, and expanding upon that integration to bring MarketAxess’ offerings into the IDN is a major step forward in shaping the future of electronic fixed income trading, especially for munis,” said James Morris, Senior Vice President at Investortools. “Clients can now incorporate muni offerings on MarketAxess into their IDN toolkit, which allows them to automate searching the secondary market, pre-allocation, optimization and then stages those candidate bonds for review and execution. This gives our clients the ability to measure SMA portfolio construction in days instead of months while adding alpha through an STP user experience.” 

“The evolution of the municipal bond marketplace, especially in the past seven years, exemplifies the need for digitalization and automation,” says Daniel Kelly, Head of Municipal Securities at MarketAxess. “Our partnership with Investortools is a logical next step in our relationship as we move towards integrating our muni capabilities within the IDN. We look forward to continuing this partnership and building even more tools to enhance both platforms.” 

MarketAxess is one of the fastest growing electronic marketplaces for muni bonds. In the first quarter of 2023, MarketAxess accounted for a 6.4% market share of muni bonds—up from 4.3% the year prior—and representing $447 million in average daily volumes. 

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess (Nasdaq: MKTX) operates a leading electronic trading platform that delivers greater trading efficiency, a diversified pool of liquidity and significant cost savings to institutional investors and broker-dealers across the global fixed-income markets. Over 2,000 firms leverage MarketAxess’ patented technology to efficiently trade fixed-income securities. MarketAxess’ award-winning Open Trading® marketplace is widely regarded as the preferred all-to-all trading solution in the global credit markets. Founded in 2000, MarketAxess connects a robust network of market participants through an advanced full trading lifecycle solution that includes automated trading solutions, intelligent data and index products and a range of post-trade services. Learn more at www.marketaxess.com and on Twitter @MarketAxess. 

About Investortools, Inc.

For more than four decades, Investortools has been a leading SaaS provider, delivering solutions regarded by the industry as a prerequisite for fixed-income investment management. Its comprehensive product suite covers portfolio, order, and execution management, performance analytics, 2a-7 compliance, and credit analysis. Trusted by over 200 firms managing more than $1 trillion in assets, Investortools supports SMA managers, fund managers, broker-dealers, and other key market participants.

Investortools Product contact:
James Morris 
Senior Vice President 
james.morris@invtools.com 
630.466.6465 

Investortools Media Contact:
Jessica McDaniel Marketing Lead 
Jessica.mcdaniel@invtools.com 
719.621.6364 

MarketAxess Media Contact: 
Marisha Mistry 
Head of Communications 
mmistry@marketaxess.com 
917.267.1232 

 

MarketAxess Joins Investortools’ Dealer Network Expanding Electronic Muni Trading 

 
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CHICAGO and NEW YORK, JUNE 8, 2023 – MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, today announced that it will expand its municipal bond integration with the Investortools’ platform and display its offerings within the Investortools Dealer Network (IDN). This partnership represents the next phase of integration within the FIX® connectivity and will combine the MarketAxess trading capabilities and unique CUSIP offerings with Investortools’ suite of analytics and trading tools for a comprehensive view of the fixed income market. 

Investortools is a software firm that specializes in solutions for fixed income portfolio management, trading, compliance, credit analysis, and benchmark risk analysis. In 2016, MarketAxess and Investortools announced a partnership highlighting the integration of the MarketAxess Municipal Bond Platform within the Investortools Perform® and Smart™ portfolio management systems, using the FIX® protocol. Now, Investortools customers will have access to the MarketAxess offerings from within the IDN. The IDN is an industry first that gives asset managers direct click-to-bid and click-to-trade access to liquidity throughout Investortools’ Perform® software for a straight-through-processing experience. It is the only platform of its kind to allow users the ability to lift, bid, and negotiate trades without needing to pivot away from the system. 

“Order routing integrations with MarketAxess have been a valuable part of our clients’ trading ecosystem for seven years, and expanding upon that integration to bring MarketAxess’ offerings into the IDN is a major step forward in shaping the future of electronic fixed income trading, especially for munis,” said James Morris, Senior Vice President at Investortools. “Clients can now incorporate muni offerings on MarketAxess into their IDN toolkit, which allows them to automate searching the secondary market, pre-allocation, optimization and then stages those candidate bonds for review and execution. This gives our clients the ability to measure SMA portfolio construction in days instead of months while adding alpha through an STP user experience.” 

“The evolution of the municipal bond marketplace, especially in the past seven years, exemplifies the need for digitalization and automation,” says Daniel Kelly, Head of Municipal Securities at MarketAxess. “Our partnership with Investortools is a logical next step in our relationship as we move towards integrating our muni capabilities within the IDN. We look forward to continuing this partnership and building even more tools to enhance both platforms.” 

MarketAxess is one of the fastest growing electronic marketplaces for muni bonds. In the first quarter of 2023, MarketAxess accounted for a 6.4% market share of muni bonds—up from 4.3% the year prior—and representing $447 million in average daily volumes. 

About MarketAxess
MarketAxess (Nasdaq: MKTX) operates a leading electronic trading platform that delivers greater trading efficiency, a diversified pool of liquidity and significant cost savings to institutional investors and broker-dealers across the global fixed-income markets. Over 2,000 firms leverage MarketAxess’ patented technology to efficiently trade fixed-income securities. MarketAxess’ award-winning Open Trading® marketplace is widely regarded as the preferred all-to-all trading solution in the global credit markets. Founded in 2000, MarketAxess connects a robust network of market participants through an advanced full trading lifecycle solution that includes automated trading solutions, intelligent data and index products and a range of post-trade services. Learn more at www.marketaxess.com and on Twitter @MarketAxess. 

About Investortools, Inc.
With more than 30 years of experience, Investortools specializes in portfolio management and credit analysis systems for institutional investors, including many of the largest mutual funds, banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, advisers, rating agencies and financial organizations. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Investortools and its affiliates have offices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.investortools.com. 

To learn more about Investortools software and the Investortools Dealer Network, please contact:
James Morris 
Senior Vice President 
james.morris@invtools.com 
630.466.6465 

Investortools Media Contact:
Jessica McDaniel Marketing Lead 
Jessica.mcdaniel@invtools.com 
719.621.6364 

MarketAxess Media Contact: 
Marisha Mistry 
Head of Communications 
mmistry@marketaxess.com 
917.267.1232 

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