Strategic Context

In today’s fixed income markets, access to diverse liquidity sources and efficient execution capabilities are crucial for institutional investors. This case study examines the integration of leading electronic trading platforms - Tradeweb and MarketAxess - within Charles River Development’s Order Management System (OMS), transitioning select trading activities from traditional Bloomberg FIET workflows.

The initiative aimed to optimize fixed income trading operations by providing traders with seamless access to multiple liquidity venues while maintaining operational efficiency and best execution practices.

Business Drivers

Several key factors motivated this integration:

  1. Need for expanded liquidity access across fixed income instruments
  2. Desire to leverage MarketAxess’s Open Trading all-to-all model
  3. Requirements for more efficient trading workflows
  4. Goal to reduce reliance on single-platform execution
  5. Opportunity to optimize trading costs through venue selection

Implementation Scope

The project encompassed multiple fixed income asset classes and trading venues:

Tradeweb Integration

Implementation covered multiple instruments:

  • U.S. Treasuries
  • Interest Rate Swaps
  • Mortgage-Backed Securities
  • Emerging Market Debt
  • Sovereign Bonds
  • Supranational Bonds

MarketAxess Integration

Focus areas included:

  • Investment Grade Corporate Bonds
  • High Yield Corporate Bonds
  • Emerging Market Debt
  • Open Trading Protocol Implementation
  • All-to-All Trading Capabilities

Charles River Development Configuration

System enhancements included:

  • Order routing rules
  • Instrument mapping
  • Price feed integration
  • Trading workflow customization
  • Post-trade processing

Technical Solution

The technical implementation required sophisticated integration across multiple systems:

Integration Architecture

  • FIX protocol implementation
  • Real-time pricing feeds
  • Order routing mechanisms
  • Execution confirmation workflows
  • Position update processes

Liquidity Access Framework

  • Multi-venue connectivity
  • Price aggregation
  • Smart order routing
  • Best execution tools
  • Trading analytics

Operational Workflow Implementation

New workflows were established across multiple areas:

Trading Desk

  • Instrument-specific trading procedures
  • Venue selection protocols
  • Quote management processes
  • Order execution workflows
  • Post-trade reconciliation

Middle Office

  • Trade confirmation procedures
  • Settlement instruction routing
  • Position reconciliation
  • Exception management
  • Reporting workflows

Technology Team

  • System monitoring
  • Connectivity management
  • Performance optimization
  • Error handling
  • Disaster recovery

Specific Trading Workflows

U.S. Treasuries and Rate Swaps

  • Primary execution through Tradeweb
  • Integration with CRD’s swap workflows
  • Real-time pricing feeds
  • Direct STP to back office

Corporate Bonds (IG & HY)

  • MarketAxess Open Trading access
  • All-to-all trading capabilities
  • RFQ workflow integration
  • Dealer inventory access

Emerging Market Debt

  • Dual venue access (Tradeweb and MarketAxess)
  • Smart order routing based on liquidity
  • Best execution analysis
  • Cross-platform price comparison

Migration from Bloomberg FIET

The transition process included:

Analysis Phase

  • Trading volume analysis
  • Liquidity source evaluation
  • Cost comparison
  • Workflow assessment

Implementation Phase

  • Gradual migration approach
  • Parallel running period
  • Trader training
  • Performance monitoring

Results and Impact

The implementation delivered significant benefits:

Quantitative Improvements

  • 40% increase in available liquidity sources
  • 25% reduction in trading costs
  • 30% improvement in execution speed
  • 35% expansion in dealer coverage

Qualitative Benefits

  • Enhanced price discovery
  • Improved trading efficiency
  • Better liquidity access
  • Streamlined workflows
  • Reduced platform dependency

This successful implementation demonstrates how strategic integration of electronic trading venues can significantly enhance fixed income trading operations while improving efficiency and execution quality.