Over the past couple of years, one of the big trends at the nexus of technology and capital markets was a spate of vendor consolidations triggered by increased demand from the buy-side for one-stop-shop trading systems. 

In 2023, this trend towards one-stop-shop trading platforms is set to extend further across capital markets firms to include sell-side organizations. In this case, change drivers are the same as have underpinned digital transformation in a broad range of sectors: cost-effectiveness, operational efficiency, and user-centric convenience. The impact of this transformation on capital markets firms will be no less significant.

Take just one use case in the Total Return Swaps (TRS) market as a case in point. Today, most dealers conduct Sales to Trader communications through the chat function on their terminals or via the telephone. This is highly inefficient as it requires sales teams to intermediate a time-consuming back and forth between clients and traders to determine and confirm a price at which to trade before initiating the trade. 

This lag between communications, and the fact that clients, sales teams, and traders, are often working from their own datasets, means that errors can creep into the process. The method also carries with it a compliance risk, as chat and voice channels do not leave easily auditable records of trading activities. Finally, with multiple versions of data existing in different systems and communications channels, banks, and their clients are unable to make use of automation tools, which can increase efficiency and productivity.

This all makes a compelling case for the centralization of Sales to Trader processes on a common digital platform that unites clients, sales desks, and traders. Thanks to cloud computing and the emergence of simple, API-based integration, financial institutions can now access a one-stop shop for digital workflows and communications tools. 

The Wematch platform is a case in point. Our new Sales to Trader module enables TRS market participants to unify clients, sales teams, and traders on a single, auditable communications channel. With Wematch, sales desks and traders can import all their TRS trades onto the platform for optimization through a single, consistent global view of all trading activity, enabling automated 1-click workflows that remove errors and enable significantly faster processes. 

Our approach also empowers sales teams to take a more active role in the process, which further helps increase overall efficiency and effectiveness. For instance, using the Sales to Trader module, sales professionals can create requests for quotes (RFQs) on behalf of clients. They can also actively manage clients’ trading lifecycle workflows.

The benefits of this one-stop-shop approach are clear: optimized workflow, increased efficiency, seamless price discovery, and reduced operational risk. And of course, this is just one workflow in one financial instrument. Sales to Trader for TRS is part of a much bigger trend in the capital markets sector towards the centralization and digitization of workflows, one that promises to significantly boost operations and productivity in the sector while reducing costs and risk. It’s a trend that Wematch is proud to be playing a leading role in, and we look forward to working with our clients in 2023 to further help improve their approach to work. 

To learn more, Contact us.