ABN AMRO has teamed up with Bloomberg to offer its clients electronic trading on over 150 European credit-default swaps and the European Dow Jones iTraxx indices. The Auto-execution service for CDS is the first of its kind, according to Russell Levi, global head of fixed income electronic trading at Bloomberg in London.
Niall Cameron, global head of credit markets at ABN AMRO in London, explained CDS trading has so far been dominated by asset managers. "We are marketing [CDS on Auto-Ex] to a wider range of buy-side clients," said Cameron. CDS has not been perceived as transparent or liquid by some sectors of the market, but Cameron hopes that teaming up with the Bloomberg system will address these issues in the CDS markets. "Customers will be able to see on a daily basis that this is a liquid market," said Cameron. Kai Seeger, global head of CDS trading at ABN AMRO in London, said the Auto-ex platform will also speed up the trading process for its clients. ABN expects to expand the service globally in coming months and will look at adding other products.
