Agency brokers: Back in vogue

In the old days, before the advent of the all-singing, all-dancing full service investment banks, agency brokers used to represent an important, if niche part of the credit trading business. Now, after a period in the wilderness, these agency brokerages are back.

"It's broking with brains," says Iain Baillie, formerly head of MarketAxess in Europe and now chief of Christopher Street Capital, the credit agency broker backed by interdealer broker GFI. Though he quickly adds: "It isn't rocket science either."

Those two statements might easily form the bookends for the new order that is establishing itself in European credit markets in the wake of the financial crisis. An attempt to add some real value, and a return to simplicity.

That's credit trading the