Following the announcement of a new data partnership between S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketAxess, Traders Magazine* sat down with Kat Sweeney, Head of Data & ETF Solutions at MarketAxess, and Tasha Gonska, Global Head of Pricing, Valuations and Reference Data at S&P Global Market Intelligence, to learn more about how the partnership is working, and what it means to their two companies moving forward.
How did this partnership between your two firms originate?
Kat: While MarketAxess is widely known as a leading electronic trading platform, we have a significant footprint in the Fixed Income Data business, most notably with CP+, our real-time, AI-powered bond-pricing tool that updates every 15 seconds for the investible bond universe.
We saw an opportunity for CP+ to be a differentiated offering as an End of Day Evaluated Price. When we first started talking with the team at S&P Global Market Intelligence (“SPGMI”) about a potential partnership, it was clear that there were significant synergies between our businesses. Leveraging SPGMI’s Reference Data is a cornerstone of the partnership, allowing us to benefit from high-quality reference data to our trading platform and data offering. And SPGMI saw the value of integrating CP+ into their End of Day Evaluated Bond Pricing.
Tasha: Agreed — there are a lot of clear synergies. In today’s volatile bond market, it’s crucial that valuations reflect the most recent market activity. Our partnership with MarketAxess originated from our shared goal to establish new standards for data quality and market responsiveness in bond valuation. This distinctive capability will provide clients with more reliable data that captures the nuanced dynamics of Fixed Income markets. The integration of MarketAxess CP+ elevates our evaluated bond pricing service, enabling us to deliver exceptional pricing quality that distinctly sets us apart in the marketplace.
Our evaluated pricing service, with exclusive access to MarketAxess CP+, is a significant addition to the wide range of market information already available at S&P Global Market Intelligence and elevates the quality of our bond pricing service. This integration enables us to deliver end-of-day valuations that are consistent with the CP+ levels used by the trading and portfolio management teams. These enhanced valuations play a vital role in powering fixed income indices and leading fixed income ETFs.
Kat: Absolutely. The synergy of our combined data quality and real-time capabilities creates a significant competitive edge benefitting our clients at a time when they need it most. Bringing our trusted, real-time pricing source to the End-of-Day Evaluated Price offered by SPGI is a truly unique offering and we see this as a great step towards solving many of the front-to-back-office pricing challenges our clients face.
What does that mean, the ‘front-to-back office’ pricing challenges?
Kat: It’s a great question. Take ETFs, for example — an amazing innovation in our market that has democratized investing. ETF technology requires Market Makers or Authorized Participants to stand in between the end investor of ETFs and the Manager of these ETFs. This offers many benefits to the end investors, but it has also required the Asset Management industry to evolve. ETF Asset Managers — their trading desks, capital markets teams, Portfolio Managers, Valuations desks, Risk and Compliance teams — need to access to the same tools the Market Makers have to operate efficiently across the ecosystem.
CP+ is one of those tools. Historically, CP+ was used primarily by Trading Desks, but with the exponential growth of ETFs we are now helping our Asset Manager Clients leverage CP+ as they optimize portfolios used for the creation and redemption of ETFs. Incorporating CP+ directly into SPGMI’s Global Evaluated Bond Pricing service is a huge milestone in our firms’ shared goal of closing the gaps between best execution, intraday trading decisions and end-of-day valuations.
What types of bonds are covered?
Tasha: Our collaboration is strategically focused on corporate, sovereign, and U.S. municipal bonds, where we see increased adoption of electronic trading. By leveraging the data and distribution capabilities of two industry leaders, we aim to enhance how our customers utilize combined datasets. This covers both investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, alongside emerging market, and developed market sovereign bonds, providing extensive coverage across major bond markets. Through this partnership, MarketAxess will gain access to comprehensive terms and conditions data, enriching both our trading platforms and data products.
What’s next? Can we expect more collaboration from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketAxess?
Tasha: This strategic partnership enables S&P Global Market Intelligence to develop new data products and services that significantly enhance customer workflows in the Fixed Income market. Following our focus on corporate and sovereign bond pricing, our immediate priority will be on municipal bond pricing, driven by the increasing electronification of trading. In the long term, we will work closely with our customers to understand their challenges and create data solutions uniquely positioned to address those needs.
Kat: We’re equally optimistic. This partnership also opens doors for innovation, especially in terms of using AI and machine learning for deeper insights into bond markets. We’re excited to keep pushing the boundaries and helping clients navigate an increasingly complex market landscape. Partnering with S&P Global Market Intelligence, which has a strong presence in the Fixed Income Index Market, presents opportunities to develop additional tradeable products that cater to the needs of market participants.
*This article first appeared in Traders Magazine
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