FTSE Russell and Tradeweb Forge Strategic Alliance to Elevate Fixed Income Index Pricing and Trading

FTSE Russell and Tradeweb Forge Strategic Alliance to Elevate Fixed Income Index Pricing and Trading

(IN BRIEF) FTSE Russell, an LSEG business, and Tradeweb have formed a strategic partnership aimed at advancing fixed income index pricing and index trading products. The collaboration will expand benchmark pricing, widen index inclusion, and enhance trading functionality for fixed income products. This involves using FTSE Russell’s Fixed Income index solutions and Tradeweb’s fixed income trading platform and data capabilities. Fixed income closing prices, administered as benchmarks by FTSE Russell, will be derived from trading activity on Tradeweb’s platform, offering reliable reference rates for various financial applications.

(PRESS RELEASE) LONDON, 26-Oct-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — FTSE Russell, an LSEG business and Tradeweb Markets Inc, announced a strategic partnership to develop the next generation of fixed income index pricing and index trading products.

Expanding Benchmark Pricing. The firms aim to provide next-generation pricing across a broader range of fixed income securities, which will be administered by FTSE Russell as benchmarks. Expanding their existing collaboration on benchmark pricing for UK Gilt and European Government bonds, the objective is to deliver robust, algorithmic, and reliable pricing. The closing prices amalgamate trading activity from Tradeweb’s electronic platform, enabling closer alignment with actual trading levels and intraday pricing. These prices are administered in accordance with the EU and UK Benchmark Regulation and the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks and can be used as reference rates for a broad range of use cases including trade-at-close transactions and derivatives contracts.

Broad Index Inclusion. In the coming months, Tradeweb and FTSE Russell will continue to collaborate on fixed income pricing sets to extend coverage across multiple regions and fixed income asset classes. Over time, FTSE Russell will explore incorporating Tradeweb pricing into FTSE Fixed Income indices, starting with FTSE World Government Bond Index (WGBI), a flagship index comprised of sovereign debt from over 20 countries and denominated in a variety of currencies.

Enhanced Trading Functionality. Tradeweb seeks to expand and enhance electronic trading functionality for FTSE Russell Fixed Income indices and customized baskets through tools and protocols such as RFQ (Request for Quote), AiEX (Automated Intelligent Execution tool) and Portfolio Trading, offering trade-at-market close, trade-at-month-end and other features conducive to index rebalancing trades. For clients seeking to efficiently express a view on FTSE Russell indices and baskets, providing enhanced trading functionality can help efficiently manage what are often their largest and most critical trades.

Scott Harman, Head of Fixed Income Indices at FTSE Russell, said: “With our comprehensive suite of sophisticated Fixed Income Indices and a growing need for innovative pricing solutions from our clients, our deeper collaboration with Tradeweb will enable us to bring to market greater tractability and tradability of our indices. We are very excited by the opportunity this relationship will bring and how it has the potential to fundamentally change the Fixed Income ecosystem.”

Lisa Schirf, Global Head of Data & Analytics at Tradeweb, said: “Tradeweb’s collaboration with FTSE Russell will provide clients with verified benchmarks they can use as reliable closing prices for their end-of-day trading strategies and other purposes. The Tradeweb FTSE closing prices will create a foundation across global Fixed Income markets for consistent end of day and intraday prices and is another way we are investing in the electronification of the markets.”

Trusted reference price data is critical for financial firms to manage investment portfolios, evaluate the fair value of securities, perform compliance, and satisfy general accounting standards. Tradeweb and FTSE recently launched benchmark closing prices for European Government Bonds in May 2023, expanding on Tradeweb’s well-established U.K. Gilt Closing Prices. Administered in accordance with the EU and UK Benchmark Regulations and the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks, Tradeweb FTSE Euro Government Bond Closing Prices are available from Tradeweb and provide end-of-day reference prices for Euro-denominated nominal bonds issued by Austria, Belgium, Finland, European Union, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

About FTSE Russell, an LSEG business

FTSE Russell is a global index leader that provides innovative benchmarking, analytics and data solutions for investors worldwide. FTSE Russell calculates thousands of indexes that measure and benchmark markets and asset classes in more than 70 countries, covering 98% of the investable market globally.

FTSE Russell index expertise and products are used extensively by institutional and retail investors globally. Approximately $20.1 trillion is currently benchmarked to FTSE Russell indexes. For over 30 years, leading asset owners, asset managers, ETF providers and investment banks have chosen FTSE Russell indexes to benchmark their investment performance and create ETFs, structured products and index-based derivatives.

A core set of universal principles guides FTSE Russell index design and management: a transparent rules-based methodology is informed by independent committees of leading market participants. FTSE Russell is focused on applying the highest industry standards in index design and governance and embraces the IOSCO Principles. FTSE Russell is also focused on index innovation and customer partnerships as it seeks to enhance the breadth, depth and reach of its offering.

FTSE Russell is wholly owned by London Stock Exchange Group.

For more information, visit FTSE Russell.

About Tradeweb Markets

Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW) is a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets. Founded in 1996, Tradeweb provides access to markets, data and analytics, electronic trading, straight-through-processing and reporting for more than 40 products to clients in the institutional, wholesale and retail markets. Advanced technologies developed by Tradeweb enhance price discovery, order execution and trade workflows while allowing for greater scale and helping to reduce risks in client trading operations. Tradeweb serves more than 2,500 clients in more than 65 countries. On average, Tradeweb facilitated more than $1.2 trillion in notional value traded per day over the past four fiscal quarters. For more information, please go to www.tradeweb.com

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements related to, among other things, our outlook and future performance, the industry and markets in which we operate, our expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, prospects and assumptions and future events are forward-looking statements.

We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors, including those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in documents of Tradeweb Markets Inc. on file with or furnished to the SEC, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, preliminary average variable fees per million dollars of volume traded are subject to the completion of management’s final review and our other financial closing procedures and therefore are subject to change. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are not guarantees of future performance and our actual results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and the development of the industry and markets in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. In addition, even if our results of operations, financial condition or liquidity, and events in the industry and markets in which we operate, are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this release, they may not be predictive of results or developments in future periods.

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© 2023 London Stock Exchange Group plc and its applicable group undertakings (the “LSE Group”). The LSE Group includes (1) FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”), (2) Frank Russell Company (“Russell”), (3) FTSE Global Debt Capital Markets Inc. and FTSE Global Debt Capital Markets Limited (together, “FTSE Canada”), (4) FTSE Fixed Income Europe Limited (“FTSE FI Europe”), (5) FTSE Fixed Income LLC (“FTSE FI”), (6) The Yield Book Inc (“YB”) and (7) Beyond Ratings S.A.S. (“BR”). All rights reserved.

FTSE Russell® is a trading name of FTSE, Russell, FTSE Canada, FTSE FI, FTSE FI Europe, YB and BR. “FTSE®”, “Russell®”, “FTSE Russell®”, “FTSE4Good®”, “ICB®”, “The Yield Book®”, “Beyond Ratings®” and all other trademarks and service marks used herein (whether registered or unregistered) are trademarks and/or service marks owned or licensed by the applicable member of the LSE Group or their respective licensors and are owned, or used under licence, by FTSE, Russell, FTSE Canada, FTSE FI, FTSE FI Europe, YB or BR. FTSE International Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a benchmark administrator.

All information is provided for information purposes only. All information and data contained in this publication is obtained by the LSE Group, from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, however, such information and data is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. No member of the LSE Group nor their respective directors, officers, employees, partners or licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or impliedly, either as to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability of any information or of results to be obtained from the use of FTSE Russell products, including but not limited to indexes, data and analytics, or the fitness or suitability of the FTSE Russell products for any particular purpose to which they might be put. Any representation of historical data accessible through FTSE Russell products is provided for information purposes only and is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Charts and graphs are provided for illustrative purposes only. Index returns shown may not represent the results of the actual trading of investable assets. Certain returns shown may reflect back-tested performance. All performance presented prior to the index inception date is back-tested performance. Back-tested performance is not actual performance, but is hypothetical. The back-test calculations are based on the same methodology that was in effect when the index was officially launched. However, back-tested data may reflect the application of the index methodology with the benefit of hindsight, and the historic calculations of an index may change from month to month based on revisions to the underlying economic data used in the calculation of the index.

This document may contain forward-looking assessments. These are based upon a number of assumptions concerning future conditions that ultimately may prove to be inaccurate. Such forward-looking assessments are subject to risks and uncertainties and may be affected by various factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. No member of the LSE Group nor their licensors assume any duty to and do not undertake to update forward-looking assessments.

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Media Contacts:

Simon Henrick, LSEG
+44 (0) 20 7797 1222
newsroom@lseg.com

Daniel Noonan, Tradeweb
+1 646 767 4677
Daniel.Noonan@Tradeweb.com

Investor Contacts:

Ashley Serrao, Tradeweb
+1 646 430 6027
Ashley.Serrao@Tradeweb.com

Sameer Murukutla, Tradeweb
+1 646 767 4864
Sameer.Murukutla@Tradeweb.com

SOURCE: LSEG