MTS Credit platform signs Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) for non-government bonds

· Next step in delivery of pan-European e-trading in corporate, covered and SSA bonds
· Meets Cassiopeia Committee drive for pan-European non-government bond platform
· Offers three points of access to suit diverse range of trading strategies

MTS Credit* is pleased to announce that Crédit Agricole CIB will be the first prime bank on its pioneering new e-platform for trading non-government bonds.

There has been an increased focus on non-government bonds as companies seek additional sources of credit, with the outstanding debt of European financial companies increasing over the last three years. Most of this debt comes from France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain, and has prompted a French-led initiative to deliver an efficient electronic market for these products.

MTS, Europe’s premier facilitator for the electronic fixed income market, responded to this need with the development of MTS Credit, which offers trading in more than 2,400 investment grade, corporate, financial and covered bonds.

The platform is designed to meet the regulatory drive to bring efficient, transparent access to European fixed income. It operates as a pan-European multilateral trading facility and uses MTS’ existing BondVision distribution technology, offering support for a range of trading strategies with access points including RFQ, dealer pages and an order-driven market.

MTS Prime is a component of the MTS Credit service and will give institutional investors the ability to trade directly on the order book, through a sponsorship relationship, with Crédit Agricole CIB acting as the first prime bank. Dealers will continue to access the market directly, with pre- and post-trade anonymity guaranteed for all clients, delivering an order-driven electronic market for trading fixed income across Europe.

Jack Jeffery, CEO of MTS, said: “Increased issuance, market volatility and uncertain liquidity have changed the landscape for non-government bond trading in recent years. Crédit Agricole CIB’s involvement as our first prime bank is a pioneering move and marks the next stage in the development of fixed income and credit markets across Europe. The launch of MTS Prime is testament to our ongoing focus on delivering tools that enable market making banks to service their customers more effectively.”

Mariano Goldfischer, Head of Global Debt Markets at Crédit Agricole CIB said: “This initiative is leading the way for a European solution in this space and is a major step forward for credit markets. The timing is also right to bring the benefits of e-trading to this space – with the associated transparency, price discovery and audit trail required in European fixed income trading.

"We’re proud to be a part of this solution for financial markets and to be the first to offer clients efficient access to liquidity and price transparency to euro-denominated credit.”



*MTS Credit is an initiative by MTS which includes MTS Prime, a multilateral trading facility supervised by the FCA in the United Kingdom; BondVision, a regulated financial market supervised by Bank of Italy and Consob in Italy; and Dealer Pages, a facility offered within BondVision.


Notes to Editors:

Further information and figures of the fixed income market can be found in Celent’s report “Fixed income in Europe: Ready for the Tornado?” (October 2012)

About MTS:
MTS is Europe’s premier facilitator for the electronic fixed income trading market, with over 500 unique counterparties and average daily turnover exceeding EUR 85 billion. MTS customers benefit from its relationship with Europe’s leading diversified exchange business, the London Stock Exchange Group, which operates the largest and most liquid equity marketplace in Europe.

MTS markets provide the professional trading environment for the interdealer marketplace, enabling primary dealers from across the globe to access unparalleled liquidity, transparency and coverage.

MTS further facilitates the dealer-to-client bond market through BondVision, the most trusted and efficient electronic bond trading market, delivering exceptional access for institutional investors direct to the market makers.

MTS Data is sourced directly and exclusively from the MTS interdealer market and includes benchmark real-time data, reference data, reference prices, time series data and snap- shot data, providing the benchmark data source on the fixed income market.

London Stock Exchange Group:
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L) sits at the heart of the world’s financial community. The Group operates a broad range of international equity, bond and derivatives markets, including London Stock Exchange; Borsa Italiana; MTS, Europe’s leading fixed income market; and Turquoise, offering UK and Russian derivatives trading, pan-European and US lit and dark equity trading. Through its markets, the Group offers international business unrivalled access to Europe’s capital markets.

The Group is a leading developer of high performance trading platforms and capital markets software and also offers its customers around the world access and an extensive range of real-time and reference data products and market-leading post-trade services. The Group is also home to a world leading index provider FTSE, which creates and manages over 200,000 equity, bond and alternative asset class indices.

Headquartered in London, United Kingdom with significant operations in Italy and Sri Lanka, the Group employs around 1,900 people.

Further information on London Stock Exchange Group can be found at www.londonstockexchangegroup.com