TT Signs Credit Suisse; Plans Link to Tokyo Financial Exchange
March 24, 2008
Credit Suisse's prime services unit has entered into a global software licensing agreement with Trading Technologies International (TT), a supplier of trading systems to the derivatives industry. Under the deal, Credit Suisse will make available TT's X-Trader order-entry software to its commodity hedge fund customers and internal trading desks in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The agreement, announced earlier this month at the Futures Industry Association's annual conference in Boca Raton, Fla., will allow Credit Suisse to meet increased demand for professional futures trading software from buy-side firms and other high-volume derivatives traders, say the companies. In addition to X-Trader, Credit Suisse clients will have access to TT's FIX connectivity and exchange gateways. The firm will also utilize TT's hosting solution, TTNet, to distribute X-Trader.
"The combination of Credit Suisse seeing the value of this screen for their own applications as well as seeing the value for their customers," along with client demands, were key to the agreement, said Elise Fleischaker, director of global marketing at Chicago-based TT, in an interview. Fleischaker noted that 19 of the top 20 futures brokers in the U.S., including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase & Co., have struck similar deals with TT.
"This is not unlike what we're seeing at the other banks where the hedge funds are going to their banks and asking for TT," she added. "This deal will help TT get into the hedge fund sector, which has been a real aggressive focus for us in the past couple of years."
Salvatore Ventura, head of the services organization for Credit Suisse Prime Services, said, "Our major energy and commodity hedge fund clients in prime services demand high-performance trading solutions and our partnership with TT enables us to provide an additional solution to meet their demands."
TT also announced this month that it is planning to introduce a gateway that will connect its X-Trader platform to the Tokyo Financial Exchange (TFX), Japan's largest financial futures venue. TT is already developing links to the Osaka Securities Exchange and Tokyo Commodity Exchange.
TT customers will have the option to host their TFX gateways internally or outsource connectivity to TTNet. TT said its gateways will be located close to the exchange at the company's Tokyo hub.
"With its advanced technologies and sophisticated customers around the world, we believe that TT's participation will bring more energy and excitement to our market," said Jiro Saito, president and CEO of TFX, in a statement.
"Trading Technologies' customers are very interested in gaining access to the Tokyo Financial Exchange through X-Trader," added TT chief executive Harris Brumfield. "The exchange's surging volume is evidence of its appeal, and we are very happy that we will be offering connectivity."
TT currently provides links to more than 20 exchanges in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. The company operates data centers in Chicago, New Jersey, London, Frankfurt, Singapore and Tokyo; additional facilities are planned for Hong Kong and Sydney.
