Neptune Adds Nomura, Jefferies to Bond Utility Network

Nomura and Jefferies join other participating investment banks including Goldman Sachs, Citi, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley on the platform, as well as a number of buy-side firms such as Deutsche Asset Management, AXA IM, Henderson Global Investors, Alliance Bernstein, and Aberdeen Asset Management.

Neptune, run by Neptune Networks, operates as a not-for-profit utility network with the goal of establishing a hub for the exchange of pre-trade bond axes and inventories in a standardized, transparent format between the buy and sell side.

"The addition of Nomura and Jefferies to the Neptune network is an important step forward in the development of our open-access, non-discriminatory network that links bond market participants and makes markets more efficient while continuing the theme of aggregating global liquidity onto one platform," said Grant Wilson, CEO of Neptune Networks, in a statement.

Neptune currently counts a total of 17 bond dealers across the network with over 13,500 individual securities, across 20 different denominations. A further four bond dealers are due to join the network before the end of the first quarter of 2017.