Fidessa Network Adds Korean Broker

SEOUL-The Korean securities brokerage and investment banking institution Good Morning Shinhan Securities is slated to go live on the Fidessa global connectivity network in late Sep­tember, Fidessa and bank officials tell DWT.

The deal is a first for the Korean broker, according to Michael Kim, head of direct market access (DMA) for equities and derivatives. "We've been in the electronic market for five years now. But we've never been exposed to this kind of global third-party and broker independent network where we can offer our local expertise," Kim says.

However, Good Morning Shinhan Securities has relationships with GL Trade's network, GL Net, as well as with Orc Software's ExNet, according to Kim. The deals with GL Trade and Orc Software are for local order flow, while Fidessa will provide global order flow to the Korean firm, Kim says.

The deal was sparked by one of Fidessa's clients. "Our clients are pushing us harder, and one of them wanted to use this particular broker," says Simon Barnby, global director of marketing communications at Royalblue, provider of Fidessa. Barnby declines to name the client pushing for the Korean link.

Users of Fidessa's global connectivity network will be able to access Korean equities and derivatives. "They can access equities, futures and options as well as index arbitrage clients," Kim says. The deal also allows users to perform DMA to trade directly on the Korea Stock Exchange (KSE).

This latest connection continues a shift in Fidessa's strategy for its global connectivity network. "Now that we signed up the big players that offer global financial services, we are not underpinning that with local brokers that can bring local expertise for less liquid stocks," Barnby says.

Fidessa's global connectivity network already includes financial institutions such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS, which provide execution services for global markets.

Last February, Interdin, a Spanish equity broker, also joined the Fidessa global connectivity network to offer local expertise and DMA to Spanish exchanges. Fidessa clients can route orders to Interdin for access to stock exchanges in Madrid and Barcelona (DWT, Feb 13).

Good Morning Shinhan Securities is the "only Korean broker on our network," says James Hardcastle, head of Fidessa's Asian broker network. "It is a niche brokering firm for the Korean market," according to Hardcastle.

"Now that we have Good Morning on the network, we will market it to other clients," Barnby says. "We have a lot of interest from U.S. and European clients to send order flow to the Asian market," he says. Fidessa now has 34 specialist brokers across the region, according to Hardcastle.

Fidessa's broker network is a broker-neutral solution for clients wishing to route order flow to sell-side destinations. Access to the Fidessa network is available via the Fidessa trading platform, the Fidessa Workstation or by direct FIX connectivity. Goodmorning Shinhan Securities uses the FIX protocol to attract order flow from the network.

Olivier Laurent