LiquidityBook announced the opening of a new office at 138 Holborn in Waterhouse Square, London, to provide local service and support to its rapidly growing client base in Europe.
After onboarding eight new fund manager clients in London since July, the leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based provider of buy- and sell-side trading solutions will use the new office to support its continued expansion in the region as demand for its industry-leading POEMS (portfolio, order and execution management system) platform surges ahead of MiFID II’s January implementation deadline.
EMEA Client Services Manager Nicholas Thompson will head the new office. He joined LiquidityBook from Eze Software in June.
Sean Sullivan, Chief Revenue Officer at LiquidityBook, 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.”
Delivering significant benefits in Cost, Stability and Service, Functionality, and Business Model, the LiquidityBook platform presents itself as a valuable SaaS provider ahead of MiFID II regulation, coming into effect January 2018.
Regarding the benefits it provides, LiquidityBook goes into detail:
- “Cost: LBX is a fully SaaS-based product, delivered 100% via the cloud leveraging AWS’s global footprint and architecture, which is the most reliable and secure in the industry. That means 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.
- “Stability and Service: 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.
- “Functionality: The fact that the product is one integrated platform has significant usability benefits. For instance, the GUI is incredibly flexible, allowing users to create true internal pivot tables, custom data set calculations and the highest degree of configurability in the competitive landscape.
- “Business Model: Since LiquidityBook provides its products on a SaaS basis, the firm 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 side are struggling to reach, this model has come under scrutiny with regards to its acceptability under MiFID II’s inducement rules.”
While in rapid growth in Europe, LiquidityBook continues its solid expansion in the US. In February, the company added three west coast hedge funds to its client roster, offering them its LBX buyside POEMS. Former Broadridge Project Manager Les Vital was recently appointed Head of Technical Sales.
