BondDesk Group and S&P Capital IQ are developing a new pricing service for US corporate and municipal bonds, Odd-Lot Valuations.
The evaluated prices in this new service will be derived using S&P Capital IQ’s proprietary methodologies and factor in market data from the BondDesk ATS, the largest odd-lot fixed income trading venue in the US.
Odd-Lot Valuations will include bid- and ask-side odd-lot (<USD1m) evaluated prices, a unique market range around these prices and a flexible suite of tools to deliver these outputs to fixed income marketplace participants including retail brokers, market makers, buy-side institutions, interdealer brokers, data providers and alternative trading systems (ATSs). This new service will bring a degree of confidence to the execution of odd-lot fixed income trades, provide compliance departments with a consistent way to help assess trade execution quality, and provide investors with valuations that are more indicative of odd lot transactions.
“There are often differences between the round-lot evaluated prices that investors see before making a trade and the prices at which their odd-lot trades get executed,” says Howard Edelstein, chief executive and chairman of BondDesk Group. “What the industry needs is a pricing service that reduces this discrepancy and provides an independent benchmark to help assess price quality. Our service will provide these benefits.”
“The combination of S&P Capital IQ’s deep experience in evaluated pricing and BondDesk’s unique market data and expertise in odd-lot fixed income trading represent a powerful advantage for professional investors in the fixed income world,” says Lou Eccleston, president, S&P Capital IQ. “I believe the quality of our prices and the availability of a corresponding market range will bring higher levels of certainty and efficiency to the odd-lot market.”
