River and Mercantile signs up to OTCX’s new LDI module

by Alex Muirhead

Press Release: 17 October 2017
OTCX, the leading OTC derivatives platform, is pleased to announce that River and Mercantile Derivatives (RMD) has signed up to use OTCX’s platform for price discovery, negotiation and affirmation of Interest Rate Derivative packages. This will allow RMD to digitalize its derivatives process in a market that has traditionally been almost exclusively conducted by email and chat.

RMD provides a range of cost effective risk management services to DB pension schemes, including LDI (liability driven investment) and structured equity strategies, helping pension schemes of all sizes achieve their investment goals by limiting unhedged exposure to risk whilst simultaneously maintaining returns. OTCX’s platform is ideally suited for the LDI space and will lead to seamless trading for OTC derivatives.

A key objective of the platform is to bring clients an efficient choice when negotiating large swap packages under best execution requirements.
The OTCX platform produces major benefits for the way buy side firms comply with MiFID II. These include trade reconstruction and compliance with best execution policies. MiFID II will provide a safer, more transparent and evenly balanced marketplace as a whole.

OTCX is helping buy side firms to digitalize their OTC derivative processes for Off Venue instruments including Inflation Swaps, Swaptions, EM Currency Swaps, Cross Currency Swaps and other illiquid, uncleared and exotic OTC instruments. The platform has no currency restrictions and hence supports all major and minor currencies.

Nicolas Koechlin, CEO of OTCX commented, “Working with asset management firms such as River and Mercantile is continuing validation of the OTCX platform which solves a real issue in the off venue OTC derivatives space. To be able to trade Interest Rate Derivatives electronically is becoming increasingly important with the onset of MiFID II. Our technology will allow for clients to demonstrate best execution, enhance the efficiency of trades and comply with European Union regulatory standards”

Masroor Ahmad, Managing Director of River and Mercantile Derivatives explained, “We’re pleased to be working with OTCX and helping develop the LDI proposition in their leading edge platform. At RMD we’ve always been at the forefront of technological advancements in the industry and invested significantly into our own proprietary tools and software. Focusing on technology is absolutely key in enabling us to offer our clients something uniquely tailored to their requirements, and we are always seeking ways to work smarter”.