The Evolution of the Muni Market

This Q&A with The Desk looks at the changing Muni market structure, what is driving this, and what the future looks like.

Some excerpts -

"Given increasing platform fragmentation, infrastructure specialists are in an ideal position to offer protocol normalization, speed to market, operating leverage and other technology efficiencies to an ever increasing number of firms looking to capture the upside of Muni electronification. As electronic volumes continue to increase, participants are looking to access more venues, while also automating large parts of the multiple different trading workflows, as they look to reduce costs."

"As this market evolves, Direct Connectivity is likely to be a key theme, as participants seek to deploy technology solutions to efficiently navigate the fragmented market and reduce transaction costs. Much in the way of Rates and Credit, this will be an interesting proposition, with the right infrastructure. Although this is still at an early stage in the Muni market, we are aware of initiatives that are looking to reduce the friction of Buy-side and Sell-side trading directly."

In addition, pricing specialist firms like Spline Data, started by Headlands veteran Matthew Smith, have further lowered the bar of entry to Muni algo trading."

Free to read at The Desk - https://www.fi-desk.com/transf...