IPC’s Financial Markets Network Provides Jefferies with Global Connectivity

IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of voice and electronic trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms and global enterprises, today announced that Jefferies & Company, Inc., a global investment banking firm, has selected two of IPC’s Financial Markets Network offerings, Connexus Financial Extranet service and Direct Connect data service, to increase its competitiveness and boost its international business growth.

Connexus and Direct Connect provide Jefferies with access to key global financial market participants including buy-side firms, liquidity venues, market data providers, independent software vendors and data centers, as well as inter-office connectivity.  In addition, the IPC Financial Markets Network offers Jefferies enhanced communications capabilities, improved customer service, increased productivity and reduced administrative expenses.

“Jefferies has served companies and investors for 50 years now. With offices in over 30 cities around the world, we needed fast, flexible service to reach our clients and our providers,” said Sean Milligan, Senior Vice President, Technology, Jefferies. “IPC’s Connexus and Direct Connect provide us with professionally managed connectivity that enables us to reach customers, liquidity venues or anyone else we need to reach when and where we need to reach them.”

 

“IPC is committed to providing industry leading, value-added network solutions for traders in a reliable and secure environment,” said Joe Pickel, Vice President, Network Services Product Management, IPC. “Connexus and Direct Connect provide Jefferies with the financial extranet and direct connectivity services that offer global reach and superior customer service along with fast and efficient access.”

Connexus is part of the IPC Financial Markets Network service portfolio which also includes private extranet and Direct Connect data services, as well as Trader and Enhanced voice connectivity services. IPC’s Financial Markets Network interconnects global financial centers and allows access to more than 4,000 market participant locations in over 700 cities in nearly 60 countries. Built on an IP/MPLS backbone, the highly scalable and secure Connexus supports a number of industry standard and trading protocols.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

IPC Adds Javelin Capital Markets to the Connexus Cloud

IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of voice and electronic trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms, today announced that they have added Javelin Capital Markets LLC (“Javelin”), an OTC derivatives execution platform, to IPC’s Connexus Financial Extranet service.

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are responsible for writing the rules that will regulate the OTC derivatives market and for changing what has been mostly a privately negotiated market into a more transparent, electronic marketplace. Firms will need to establish and maintain constant connectivity in order to retain access to liquidity. Javelin has chosen IPC’s Connexus platform to enable its customers to not just comply with regulations but to also capture liquidity, achieve best execution and gain a strategic advantage in the rapidly evolving landscape for OTC derivatives.

Javelin was founded in 2009 by derivative trading and technology professionals. Since then, Javelin has created a Swap Execution Facility “SEF”, a platform for regulated trading of swaps, in response to the changing market structure in OTC derivatives as a result of the global financial crisis. Javelin’s SEF offers low cost, real time trade execution for Interest Rate and Credit Default Swaps, with both anonymous Limit Order Book and Request for Quote execution combining optimal liquidity with transparency and market depth.

“We are delighted that IPC is providing connectivity to a diverse pool of market participants seeking direct access to the Javelin trading platform,” said Michael Black, Head of Infrastructure, Javelin Capital Markets. “As the OTC derivatives markets embrace change, it is extremely important for our clients to have reliable and secure connectivity to our platform for trade execution.”

 

“As the market structure for OTC derivatives continues to evolve, IPC is providing its customers with solutions that help their clients seize alpha generation opportunities,” said Joe Pickel, vice president, Network Services Product Management, IPC. “As electronic trading in interest rate and credit default swaps flourishes having Javelin Capital Markets as a liquidity venue destination on Connexus will provide market participants with the flexibility required to trade these rapidly growing asset classes.”

IPC has been rapidly developing a community of market participants in the OTC derivatives market that includes broker-dealers, inter-dealer brokers, derivative execution venues and major institutional investors. Connexus is part of the IPC Financial Markets Network service portfolio which also includes private extranet and Direct Connect data services, as well as Trader and Enhanced Voice communications services. IPC’s Financial Markets Network interconnects global financial centers and allows access to more than 4,000 market participant locations in over 700 cities in nearly 60 countries. Built on an IP/MPLS backbone, the highly scalable and secure Connexus supports a number of industry standard and trading protocols.

About Javelin Capital Markets

Javelin Capital Markets, LLC was formed in 2009 as a derivatives execution platform for Interest Rate Swaps and Credit Default Swaps. Javelin offers both anonymous electronic and voice-hybrid methodologies for trade execution. Javelin works with several execution and agency swap partners to ensure optimal liquidity for its diverse customer base. Javelin will register as a SEF, or Swap Execution Facility, under the Dodd Frank Act as soon as the SEF rules are finalized. For more information, visit www.thejavelin.com

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

Survey Finds Industry Is Underprepared Despite Growing OTC Derivatives Trading And Market Regulation

As new regulations emerge to govern OTC derivatives trading and the market itself grows, a recent survey has found that financial institutions are underprepared to meet the requirements these regulations will place on them even as they plan to increase their trading activity in OTC derivatives. Released today, the survey entitled “OTC Derivatives Trading Trend Survey” was conducted by IPC Systems, Inc., a leading provider of voice and electronic trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms and global enterprises. It highlights the state of firms’ and the industry’s preparedness for the OTC derivatives market’s new Swap Execution Facility (SEF) model going into 2013.

 

The survey generated responses from hedge funds, investment banks, broker/dealers, exchanges and other financial institutions. Key findings include:

 

Trading to Grow Significantly

  • 94 percent said their firms are already trading swaps or other OTC derivatives or plan to do so in the next six months;
  • 74 percent expect their firms’ trading volumes to increase in the next year.

Lack of Regulatory Preparedness

  • 36 percent reported that their company did not have a plan in place to deal with new regulations;
  • 62 percent said their firms were not well-prepared for the impending regulations;
  •  Only 19 percent said the industry as a whole was well prepared to meet the regulations.

Mixed View on Benefits of Regulation

  • 26 percent say the benefits of new regulation far outweigh any associated costs;
  • 31 percent say the impact of new regulation will be negative leading to increases in the cost/complexity of trading with little or no benefits.

Increased Transparency, Reduced Risk

  • 57 percent expect new regulations to increase market and transaction transparency and 53 percent cited this benefit as moderately or critically important;
  • 43 percent said that reducing systematic risk was moderately or critically important but only 29 percent expected new regulations to actually reduce such risk.

View of the Future

  • 66 percent expect to see trading shift to the futures market;****
  • 19 expect the importance and value of the OTC Derivatives market to grow.****

It’s All About Connections

  • 62 percent say their firms are or will be connected to one or more SEFs;****
  • 39  percent are connected or plan to connect to more than 10 SEFs;****
  • 23 percent will connect to more than 20 SEFs.****

“The survey results confirm what we’ve been hearing from the market and it paints an interesting picture,” said Ganesh Iyer, senior product marketing manager, IPC. “OTC derivatives trading has been hotly debated for the last few years, yet there is concern – and in some cases an outright admission – that neither individual firms nor the industry as a whole are well-prepared for the coming changes.”

 

“This concern is juxtaposed against an already operating and fast-growing market,” Iyer said. “Taken together, these points underscore what we have concluded and what our customers have learned: connectivity to SEFs and the various other OTC derivatives execution venues is critical not only for addressing compliance concerns but also for gaining competitive advantage and capitalizing on new opportunities.”

The research covered a broad range of roles supporting the full trade lifecycle from order initiation and execution to clearing and settlement. Respondents came from the front, middle, and back office and included people involved in both the business and technology sides of trading operations.

About IPC

IPC offers high- and low-touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With a 100-percent focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets, electronic connectivity services including enhanced voice services, business continuity solutions, and follow-the-sun service and support. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a financial extranet of 4,000 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.

IPC’s Connexus Financial Extranet Successfully Marks First Anniversary With Increasing Global Momentum

Just one year after its introduction, IPC’s Connexus Financial Extranet has quickly become a major global player in the data connectivity market with a fast-growing on-net community of customers, service providers, and major exchanges in both established and emerging markets.  Helping fuel Connexus’s growth is an expanding number of providers increasing the offering of the Connexus suite of features and capabilities providing customers with the tools they need to meet the challenges of today’s trading environment.

“Whether they’ve been looking to participate in a large on-net community, reduce network complexity or increase speed-to-market, customers have immediately seen the value of Connexus,” Joe Pickel, vice president, Network Services Product Management for IPC said.  “It’s certainly been a case of Connexus exceeding our expectations because we’ve designed it to exceed customer expectations.”

Connexus was introduced in late 2011 to offer capital market participants quick and cost-effective access to a broad range of cloud-based trade lifecycle services through a single connection.  It features an IP/MPLS network backbone and supports standard protocols including TCP, IP, UDP and multicast as well as trading protocols including FIX and SWIFT.

Although Connexus may feature the newest and most advanced technology in the market, that is only a small part of the reason for its success according to Pickel.  “With 40 years of experience serving the capital markets we know that technology isn’t a solution in and of itself.  It’s how you leverage that technology to provide services that makes the difference,” Pickel said.

In the case of Connexus, IPC has leveraged the technology to provide customers with the ability view network performance and bandwidth utilization in real- time, allowing them to better manage capacity and performance and to even proactively plan for changes in usage and demand.

Customers access the information through a secure portal that gives them global visibility, reporting and hands-on analysis of their network as well as business-level transactions such as information about service requests or circuit ordering.

 

IPC has also invested in embedding instrumentation throughout its Connexus network for proactive and enhanced reactive management. Based on best-of-breed network and Financial Industry tools, IPC has a comprehensive approach that includes intelligent monitoring points from Datacom Systems and performance management solutions from NetScout, providing proactive monitoring and end-to- end visibility into the performance of Connexus’s network infrastructure.

“With the additional visibility and control we provide, customers can make better connectivity and bandwidth decisions and help their firms operate smarter, faster and more efficiently.  And our monitoring capabilities increases overall support, responsiveness and customer confidence” Pickel said.  “That’s a tremendous advantage for our customers and based on its growth in the first year, it’s also a tremendous advantage of our Connexus offering.”

Connexus is part of the IPC Financial Markets Network service portfolio which also includes private extranet and Direct Connect data services, as well as Trader and Enhanced voice communications services. The IPC Financial Markets Network is an expansive global network designed for voice and electronic trading and caters exclusively to the exacting demands of capital market participants. The network interconnects global financial centers and allows access to more than 4,500 market participant locations in over 700 cities in nearly 60 countries.

About IPC

IPC Systems, Inc. offers high and low touch trading communications solutions to the global financial trading community including the top investment banks, hedge funds and investment managers in established and emerging markets. With 100% focus on this sector and nearly 40 years of expertise and an unrivaled record of innovation, IPC provides customers with unified solutions that support collaborative voice trading and real-time electronic trading and market data connectivity.  IPC’s market-leading offerings include the first unified communications/application platform, award-winning hard and soft turrets and electronic connectivity services. IPC’s global reach extends to nearly 60 countries – including a Financial Extranet of 4,500 on-net locations in over 700 cities and more than 115,000 turrets deployed worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, IPC has approximately 1,000 employees located throughout the Americas and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions.