Electronic swap trades use FpML for first time

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- Blackbird Holdings, operator of the Blackbird electronic market-place for over-the-counter interest rate derivatives, said in April the first swap trades had been completed on an electronic network using Financial products Mark-up Language (FpML).

The deals represent the first practical use between swap counterparties of FpML, which has been under development for three years. The trades were euro interest rate swaps conducted by several sets of counterparties, which North Carolina-based Blackbird declined to name.

Blackbird president and co-founder Shawn Dorsch said: "This is a significant advance in straight-through processing -- trades can be captured at execution and fed instantly to each department that requires the trade information."

Blackbird customers may use FpML to book trades they have not necessarily made through Blackbird, Blackbird chief executive Mark Brickell said.

"The back-office book-keeping advance represented by FpML presumably would make it attractive for customers to use FpML through Blackbird to record other interest rate derivatives trades," he added.

The FpML electronic language was developed by a consortium of swaps participants and led by dealers through the International Swaps and Derivates Association, the financial risk management industry trade group.

-- Naomi Humphries