THETRADETECH DA I LY
news review
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF TRADETECH 2019
Bloomberg maintains dominance
of OMS and EMS space
GREENWICH ASSOCIATES RESEARCH FINDS THAT BUY-SIDE FIRMS SPENT OVER $1 BILLION ON OMS AND EMS LAST
YEAR, AS BLOOMBERG LEADS LIST OF PRIMARY PLATFORMS.
B
loomberg has dominated an analysis of order
management systems (OMS) and execution
management systems (EMS) used by asset
managers, who spent $1.4 billion on deploying
such systems in 2018.
According to the analysis of US and Europe
asset managers carried out by Greenwich
Associates, Bloomberg’s EMSX platform is most
popular in equities trading with a majority of
38% of buy-side traders stating that it is their
primary EMS platform.
Following Bloomberg was ITG’s Triton EMS,
now part of Virtu Financial, which is the primary
EMS for 19% of buy-siders surveyed for the
analysis, and then Charles River, now part of
State Street, which is the main equities EMS for
8% of respondents.
“The ubiquity of the Terminal on trading desks
brings EMSX to traders at no additional charge,
and Bloomberg has invested tremendously to
ensure the platform’s popularity doesn’t wane,”
the analysis, which was authored by Kevin
McPartland, head of research for market struc-
ture and technology at Greenwich Associates,
said.
“But continuing with the theme of change,
Virtu’s acquisition of EMS pioneer ITG is nota-
ble. ITG was one of the first to enter the EMS
game with its Triton EMS in the 1990s and has
maintained a strong position and reputation
ever since… Now combined with Virtu’s technol-
ogy prowess, the platform is poised to only get
stronger.”
The TRADE’s annual algorithmic trading
survey for 2019 found a similar pattern, with
over half of long-only asset managers and
hedge funds respondents indicating that they
use Bloomberg’s EMSX, either as a standalone
system or in conjunction with another EMS. The
full results of the survey were published in the
Spring 2019 edition of The TRADE.
The research also reflects the results of The
TRADE’s 2018 EMS survey, where almost two-
thirds of buy-side traders that use Bloomberg
EMSX said that they have no plans to replace
Bloomberg as their EMS provider over the
next 12 months. The TRADE’s EMS survey also
found that ‘ease of use’ and the ‘number of
connections to brokers’ are the most important
features for asset managers using EMS.
For OMS in equities, Greenwich Associates’
report found that Bloomberg AIM was cited as
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THETRADETECH DAILY
the third most used primary platform by 18%
of respondents, behind Charles River named by
21% of respondents and Eze Software, now part
of SS&C, cited by a majority of 24% buy-siders.
In fixed income, Bloomberg again massively
dominated the list of primary platforms for both
EMS and OMS. A majority of 44% of buy-side
traders currently use Bloomberg EMSX as their
primary EMS, while a majority of 33% use
Bloomberg AIM as their primary OMS platform
for bond trading.
Charles River came in second for fixed income
EMS and OMS platforms, although far less
asset managers use the firm as its primary plat-
form. It was cited as the primary EMS platform
for just 7% of traders, and the primary OMS
platform for 10%.
“Bloomberg is a clear leader here, which dates
back to the early days of the Bloomberg Ter-
minal, when it was driven largely by its unique
fixed-income market data,” McPartland added.
“State Street’s Charles River has maintained a
long presence in this space as well, most recent-
ly building out its execution capabilities.”
“The ubiquity of the Terminal on trading desks
brings EMSX to traders at no additional charge, and
Bloomberg has invested tremendously to ensure the
platform’s popularity doesn’t wane.”
KEVIN MCPARTLAND, GREENWICH ASSOCIATES