Tradeweb and FTSE Russell Announce Strategic Partnership

Collaboration to expand benchmark pricing, broaden index inclusion and enhance trading functionality across fixed income products

• The partnership seeks to develop the next generation of fixed income pricing and index trading products by leveraging FTSE Russell’s innovative Fixed Income index solutions and Tradeweb’s fixed income trading platform and data capabilities.
• Fixed Income closing prices will be administered as benchmarks by FTSE Russell and be derived from trading activity on Tradeweb’s platform.
• The partnership aims to extend pricing coverage to most constituents featured in the FTSE Fixed Income Index universes and explore incorporating new Tradeweb pricing sets into FTSE Fixed Income Indices.
  
  

LONDON / NEW YORK – 25 October 2023 – Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, and FTSE Russell, an LSEG business, today announced a strategic partnership to develop the next generation of fixed income index pricing and index trading products.

Expanded 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.

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.”

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.”

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 UK Gilt Closing Prices. Administered in accordance with the EU and UK Benchmark Regulation 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 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.

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 www.ftserussell.com

Media Contact:

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

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

Forward-Looking Statements 

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