Merrill Lynch has added credit derivatives pricing and research to its on-line trading site, MLX. An official at Merrill Lynch said the service offers pricing on 150 U.S. names and expects that number to double when European names go live in the next couple of weeks, soon to be followed by Asian names. The site gives clients indicative prices for credit default swaps and asset swaps, as well as research, a pricing calculator to mark positions to market and credit derivatives documentation. There are no plans to add execution because of the difficulties connecting the site to other systems and the lack of customer demand.
The service is the result of a yearlong project and a partnership with electronic broker CreditTrade. Merrill has re-branded the CreditTrade site with its own name. Aviv Handler, head of product development at CreditTrade in London, said allowing Merrill to use the site does not compete with CreditTrade's own business as the customer base is different and the Merrill site will not offer execution.
