Virtu Financial, a leading global provider of financial services and products that leverages cutting edge technology to deliver innovative, transparent trading solutions to our clients and liquidity to the global markets, announced the launch of a swaptions on CDS workflow in RFQ-hub, Virtu’s bilateral multi-asset and multi-dealer request for quote platform. German-based Union Investment, a leading European asset manager with €425B AUM, successfully negotiated the first-fully electronic swaptions on CDS RFQ via Virtu’s RFQ-hub in 1H 2021, which subsequently resulted in an OTC trade executed in that instrument.

Union’s and Virtu’s RFQ-hub team collaborated to automate the traditional voice and manual dominated swaptions on CDS workflow, a project which required the onboarding of sell side counterparties and technology integration with Union’s system architecture.

Using the RFQ-hub platform, swaptions traders can now leverage electronic request for quote workflows to put multiple liquidity providers in competition for efficient and transparent price discovery, automated audit trail and integration with risk management and other post-trade systems or processing.

“It’s been a real process improvement–utilising Virtu’s RFQ-Hub to facilitate trading swaptions on CDS has allowed us to more easily document best execution, streamline our workflow with our counterparties and realise efficiency gains,” said Christoph Hock, Head of Multi Asset Trading, Union Investment.

“We are committed to helping our clients solve their challenges,” said Rob Boardman, CEO Virtu Financial EMEA. “Virtu’s advanced technology, intuitive multi-asset workflows and excellence in client service has streamlined the process of swaptions trading on CDS. That same innovative spirit has also sparked the development of swaptions on IRS and, coupled with RFQ-hub’s new MTF status in ETFs, underlines Virtu’s commitment to delivering multi-asset class solutions for all clients.”

RFQ-hub brings asset managers and market makers together to help electronically deliver aggregated and competitive liquidity, streamline workflow and improve pricing with a focus on equity and fixed income listed and OTC derivatives, structured products and ETFs.

Source: Virtu