SaaS-based buy and sell-side trading solutions provider LiquidityBook has announced the opening of a new London office at 138 Holborn in Waterhouse Square.
The firm, which reported that it has onboarded eight new fund manager clients in London since July, will use the new office to support its continued expansion in the region as demand for its POEMS (portfolio, order and execution management system) platform surges ahead of MiFID II’s January implementation deadline.
The new office is led by EMEA Client Services Manager Nicholas Thompson, who joined the firm from Eze Software in June. Mr. Thompson and the London-based LiquidityBook team, which the firm continues to expand, will provide local service and support to its rapidly growing client base in Europe.
LiquidityBook’s LBX is a fully SaaS-based product, delivered 100% via the cloud leveraging AWS’s global footprint and architecture, meaning that there is no need to pay for servers, hosting, BCP, back-up data or mobile/remote connectivity, which also eliminates fees paid to third-party hosting providers. The platform provides full redundancy and accessibility anywhere in the world; users simply need a browser and connectivity to trade.
LBX is an OMS/PMS/FIX order routing platform built on a single code base. Every client runs the same version, and updates are rolled out weekly. The platform is not an amalgamation of different stitched-together products; its features and functionality have all been developed organically over the last decade in close collaboration with clients. The flexible GUI allows users to create true internal pivot tables, custom data set calculations and the highest degree of configurability in the competitive landscape.
Since LiquidityBook provides its products on a SaaS basis, the firm stated that it can offer them at a very competitive price point while still being able to fully fund development, growth and product enhancements. The firm is not and has never been dependent on transactional fees to drive revenue growth. Not only do those cut into broker commission wallet commitments that many buy sides are struggling to reach, this model has come under scrutiny with regards to its acceptability under MiFID II’s inducement rules.
Commenting on the news, LiquidityBook Chief Revenue Officer Sean Sullivan said:
MiFID II obviously represents a generational change for the European securities industry, and has proved to be a significant tailwind for our business in the region. But with the numerous benefits our SaaS-based system provides to fund managers in terms of cost, ease of management and reliability, we think the growth we’ve seen in 2017 is indicative of where the overall industry is headed as more and more managers adopt this model. We’re very excited to expand our footprint in the region and continue the momentum we’ve seen over the last few years.