Trading Systems Firms Present Concessions To UK’s Watchdog

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has accepted a proposal from ION to sell Broadway’s fixed income business in order to resolve competition concerns about the completed merger.

ION Investment Group Limited and Broadway Technology Holdings provide specialist trading systems to financial organizations, such as banks, that allow the trading of foreign exchange (FX) and fixed income securities (FI) such as government bonds.

After an initial Phase 1 investigation in July, the CMA identified competition concerns in ION’s completed purchase of Broadway in the supply of FI electronic trading systems. ION is by far the largest supplier of these systems and Broadway is one of only 2 significant competitors.

The CMA was concerned that the deal could therefore leave customers facing a significantly reduced choice of supplier with the potential for higher prices or more onerous terms and conditions on their services.

In response to these concerns, ION has offered to sell Broadway’s FI business including the underlying software and the brand to a buyer consortium led by Broadway’s CEO. This has been approved by the CMA.

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