Electronic bond trading on Tradeweb set for record year
LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Trading volumes on electronic platform Tradeweb are on track for a record year, the company said on Tuesday, adding that volumes on bonds, derivatives and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had risen 40 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2018.
Much of the growth is being driven by derivatives trading, with interest rate derivatives witnessing a 158 percent year-on-year rise in average daily volumes in July, Tradeweb said in a statement.
The use of electronic trading platforms has surged in 2018 as the second version of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) came into effect, forcing banks, asset managers and traders to provide detailed information on trillions of euros in transactions.
This is a particularly difficult process for bonds and their associated derivatives, as those markets are conducted "over the counter" rather than on a regulated exchange.
At the start of the year, Tradeweb's head of Europe and Asia business attributed a surge in volumes to MiFID II.
Tradeweb, which is majority-owned by Thomson Reuters, is one of the world's biggest bond trading platforms, along with Bloomberg and MarketAxess.
Average daily volumes on global equity derivatives rose 352 percent last month, while credit derivatives rose 80 percent year-on-year, Tradeweb said.
Volumes did dip slightly in the first half of July, Tradeweb said, attributing the decline to the possible impact from the football World Cup and U.S. Independence Day holiday
Earlier this week, data showed currency trading on Thomson Reuters platforms rose in July compared to last year as increased volatility across financial markets led to greater trading. (Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; editing by Sujata Rao)