Bank Led Working Group to Define Global Standard for Client Enablement on Electronic Markets

As the new executing venues such as SEFs start come into action, a bank lead initiative was launched to seamlessly manage the migration of OTC instruments to trading venues. A new open protocol to allow the automated exchange of dealer to client trading relationships amongst market participants

The Working Group of leading sell side banks has been established to engage with Execution venues and other stakeholders to create an open industry standard protocol for client and trader enablement on electronic trading platforms.

The members of the working group known as the Trading Enablement Standardization Initiative (TESI) include: BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, RBS, Société Générale and UBS as well as others and are supported by Etrading Software Limited ("Etrading Software").

The first goal of the Working Group is to ensure the smooth migration of swaps trading onto Swap Execution Facilities by streamlining the enablement of clients onto the new platforms. The scope will also extend to other OTC cash and derivative markets in later phases.

The adoption of the new standards will realize the following benefits to the industry:

• Faster client enablement
• Increased operational efficiency
• Reduction in STP failures
• Help meet more stringent operational regulatory requirements

"BNP Paribas fully supports the aim of creating a global standard for client enablement on electronic trading platforms. This initiative demonstrates BNP Paribas' commitment to providing the best possible customer experience on our electronic trading offerings," Jack Utley , Global Head of Electronic Client Solutions, BNP Paribas.

"While the trading flows in electronic markets have been automated for some time now, the processes for enabling clients have remained highly manual. The adoption of automation standards by the industry will allow for the improvement of client service, controls and efficiency. This development is particularly timely given the increased regulatory demands on electronic trading infrastructure," Simon Maisey , Global Head of Rates eCommerce, J.P. Morgan.

"This initiative will dramatically change the way banks and execution venues enable clients for electronic trading," says Sassan Danesh , Managing Partner at Etrading Software. "The new protocol will allow dealers and electronic execution venues to provide their Buy-Side clients with a faster, higher quality enablement process. The initiative is perfectly timed to meet the requirements of swaps trading on SEFs, as mandated by Dodd-Frank."

Over the coming days the Working Group will engage with leading SEFs and execution venues to participate in a collaborative process to create the standard as well as liaising with standards organisations in order to migrate the governance for the new specifications to the appropriate standards bodies as quickly as possible.

About the Working Group Members:

The working group members consist of the leading sell-side banks within the fixed income markets and include: BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, RBS, Société Générale and UBS