03:28 PM
Global Link To Connect Through EzeCastle
State Street's Global Link, an online platform that allows portfolio managers to trade with multiple counterparties across multiple assets and markets, has teamed up with EzeCastle to facilitate routing to exchanges and trading systems worldwide.
State Street Executive Vice President and Head of Global Trading and Research Stan Shelton says the EzeCastle routing will be offered to Global Link customers this week, with an ASP version expected to roll out in the fourth quarter. That connectivity will improve the access Global Link customers have to the markets they wish to reach, because EzeCastle is pre-integrated with a number of exchanges and trading systems, including State Street's BondConnect and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's trading platform.
"If we had clients that wanted to go to 10, 12 or 67 bond trading venues, we would be the transportation vehicle for them," says Shelton. He adds that connectivity is what Global Link is all about, the ability for fund managers to access the liquidity pools and resources they need in order to carry out their mandate. Global Link, which was launched in 1994, is used by more than 250 asset managers in 20 countries, including Deutsche Bank and Westpac Bank.
Shelton says that with the proliferation of trading systems, selecting trading venues can be difficult for managers. "While we think that the innovations in technology are great, they are producing a confused environment for the client," says Shelton. "What we have been building with Global Link is something that rationalizes that, while still allowing choice."
Global Link customers have access to a variety of securities products, including foreign exchange, equities, money-market cash instruments and some fixed-income capabilities. The system is supported by the analytics group of State Street Associates, which includes Rudi Dornbusch (MIT) and Ken Froot (Harvard Business School).
Shelton adds, "What we are building with Global Link are ways for large global institutional managers to implement strategic decision processes around an investment strategy."