SaaS-based POEMS provider sees record-setting results for third consecutive year
NEW YORK — January 21, 2020 — LiquidityBook, a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based provider of buy- and sell-side trading solutions, today announced that 2019 was a record year across all sales and client growth metrics tracked by the firm. This rapid growth was fueled by a continued rise in demand for its industry-leading POEMS (portfolio, order and execution management system) platform, which provides significant cost, management and functionality benefits over the legacy platforms many investment managers currently employ.
Five of the key highlights from the year were as follows:
- LiquidityBook’s total revenues for 2019 were up 33% year-over-year, fueled by steady client wins for each of the firm’s products: LBX Buy-Side, LBX Sell-Side and LBX Outsourced Trader. Recently, the firm signed multi-strategy manager FNY Investment Advisers, which resulted in significant enhancements to the LiquidityBook back end to optimize the way LBX utilizes market data and processes fills.
- 95% of new deployments were replacements of legacy platforms. Growth in the overall client base led to an 85% increase in total orders sent via LBX Connect, LiquidityBook’s proprietary FIX network, as well as a 35% increase in overall fill traffic. LBX Connect now has over 180 broker-dealers on the network globally, with clients able to send Equities, Options, Futures, FX and Swap/CFD orders, as well as allocations, to them. In addition, a primary focus in 2019 was the integration of multiple new OTC/credit-focused EMS and ATS platforms, with clients trading record amounts of Credit, Repos, Collateralized Loan Products and Credit Derivatives through LiquidityBook over the course of the year.
- LiquidityBook continued to expand its global footprint, establishing a fourth office – in Sydney – in response to a rapid increase in clients seeking to execute investment ideas in the Asia-Pacific region. Opened by Chief Architect Andy Carroll, the office plays a vital role in providing local service and support to LiquidityBook’s growing roster of clients trading around the clock. The office will play a vital part in LiquidityBook’s plans to further expand into Asia-Pacific.
- LiquidityBook also continued expanding its global development and client service organization, making several key hires in 2019 including Alexander Ponyrko as Principal Software Engineer and Andre Meintjes as Asia-Pacific Client Services Lead. Over the course of 2019, Liquiditybook increased its headcount by nearly 50%, all of which were in product development and client service.
- During the year, LiquidityBook experienced a number of “firsts” as a company, including onboarding its first client trading over 50 million shares a day, as well as its first client with over $20 billion in credit assets (Repos, Bank Debt, Collateralized Loans and Credit Derivatives).
Commenting on the conclusion of another successful year, Chief Revenue Officer Sean Sullivan said: “Thanks to a record-setting number of new engagements, we finished the decade with our strongest year yet. The discussion around SaaS-based technologies and the benefits they offer on cost, functionality and service continues to be a key factor in firms’ willingness and desire to migrate from legacy platforms. People today clearly recognize how valuable web-based apps are in their everyday lives, and it’s only logical that there is a growing market for this model in the trading technology space as well.”
He continued: “It’s no secret that investment professionals must today offer more diverse products across the cap structure to stay competitive and retain assets. It is therefore very important to have a foundational product like Liquiditybook that can move with you as your business demands it to. Our workflow and asset class flexibility is one of the primary drivers for our 2019 growth, and based on our pipeline, we expect to see similarly strong demand in 2020.”
The LiquidityBook platform delivers significant benefits in the following areas:
- 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 far less need to pay third-parties for hosting, connectivity, trading and position data back-up or business continuity planning services. 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; it was developed only a few years ago, making it far more reliable than competitive offerings.
- 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 custom columns and calculations on the fly.
- 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 is also potentially considered an inducement under MiFID II unless the vendor also provides connectivity.
About LiquidityBook
LiquidityBook is a leading SaaS-based provider of buy- and sell-side trading solutions, including order management, portfolio management, execution management, FIX network connectivity, compliance and pre- and post-trade processing. Founded in 2005, the LiquidityBook platform is trusted by many of the industry’s most sophisticated buy- and sell-side firms globally to power their trading workflows. For more information please visit www.liquiditybook.com or contact sales@dck.kas.mybluehost.me.
Media Contact
Sam Belden
Forefront Communications for LiquidityBook
212-320-8986
