TradingScreen Acquires Citi's BECS Post-Trade License Exclusivity

TradingScreen, a provider of a leading global execution management system, has become the exclusive licensee for Citi’s multi-broker post-trade Best Execution Comparison Service (BECS).

The licensing arrangement, which is effective immediately, allows TradingScreen to advance its push into the transaction cost analysis space. As a result of the deal, TradingScreen will oversee all multi-broker post-trade analytics for BECS, the company said in today’s release.

“We are very pleased to combine our well-known multi-asset class Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) business TCA-in-a-Box with the highly regarded BECS multi-broker post-trade system that Citi has developed over the past few years,” stated Philippe Buhannic, CEO of TradingScreen, a provider of multi-broker, multi-asset trading systems to buy side firms and institutions.

The licensing deal for Citi’s post-trade TCA software “is a very important step towards the TradingScreen goal of offering a one-stop-shop destination for large institutional clients across the globe,” said Buhannic in today's release.

Acquired by Citgroup in April of 2004, BECS is a web-based system that was fully owned, but independently managed by Citgroup Global Markets.

Buhannic said the TCA licensing deal is “a perfect match between TradingScreen’s integration of workflow, distribution capability, easy deployment and the strong analytics of the BECS system.” He then concluded, “This license will allow Citi to deploy an independent TCA capability to its large client base in a very easy manner while providing them with a new level of service and integration,” he added.

This a move to strengthen Trading Screen's multi-asset analytics capabilities, which already includes the acquisition of GSCS Information Services in 2010 and the launch of TradingScreen's TCA Consulting Services last year.

The sale of Citi’s post-trade analytics to TradingScreen follows the sale of Citi’s ColorPalette sell-side OMS to FlexTrade Systems in late November. In 2009, Citi also sold its buy-side EMS to TradingScreen.

In a statement in the same release, Dan Keegan, Global Co-Head of Citi’s Electronic Markets, explained “We are pleased to partner with TradingScreen for licensing of the BECS multi-broker post-trade system. Their expertise will benefit our clients as we focus on the execution capabilities offered by the LavaFlow ECN, ColorBook smart order router, premier Citi Match dark pool, options and equities market making, and Citi’s algorithmic product suite.”

Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio