After US, FIX City Targets Asia

London-based FIX technology consultancy FIX City is planning to roll out its ioinet Indications of Interest (IOI) network into Asia next year, officials say.

Director Paul Scott says the company, which rolled ioinet out to the US in March of this year, is now seeing increased demand from its buy-side participants to access broker liquidity in emerging markets such as South Africa and Asia.

Firms would be able to use ioinet to indicate their interest in securities trades to brokers via an electronic network, rather than by fax or email communication of orders overnight, he says. This would more likely appeal to smaller firms without a direct presence in the region, he adds.

IOIs are indicative prices offered by brokers outside of stock exchanges in response to client inquiries in the over-the-counter market—much like a request-for-quote system. Scott says he expects the MiFID regulations in Europe, which will encourage off-exchange trading and reporting, to increase interest in the service. However, ioinet has no execution component, so firms who want to trade an IOI still have to contact brokers via other means.

Since ioinet launched in the US, it has signed up four brokers and two buy-side firms, and hired former Omgeo executive Robert Rowe as vice president of new buisiness development for the Americas. "This year is about the US. Then next year we will focus on Asia," Scott says.