Moneyline Telerate removes Tullett swaps data

Moneyline Telerate, the provider of real-time capital markets information, is removing Tullett & Tokyo Liberty’s benchmark US dollar rate swaps information from its treasury and swaps information service - known as page 19901 - on September 20, according to officials at both companies.

In a surprise move that has riled the management of Tullett Financial Information, which sells Tullett & Tokyo Liberty’s data, Moneyline Telerate is replacing Tullett’s data with swaps, spreads and derivatives pricing from inter-dealer broker Icap.

"Moneyline Telerate only informed me of their intent to remove our information from 19901 last week, and refused to give me a precise date of when they planned to implement it," said David Mukerji, director and global head of sales for Tullett Financial Information. "We have since learned that customers have received letters from Moneyline informing them of their decision to implement this removal on Friday September 20."

Tullett has been providing its rates to Telerate for its series of pages, which includes page 19901, for the past 15 years. "We are disappointed that Moneyline Telerate has acted in this unprincipled manner," Mukerji added.

Bill Walsh, senior vice-president of marketing at Moneyline Telerate, said of the move: "Icap is the best source for swaps data. There’s no other reason. The combination of prices from Brokertec and Icap guarantees our customers the best, most reliable, accurate view of the markets."

Page 19901 will now offer Treasury prices from Brokertec and interest rate swaps from Icap. Moneyline Telerate will also announce enhancements to its pages over the coming weeks, the most significant of which will be on page 19901, Walsh added.

But Tullett has started to receive calls from many Moneyline Telerate customers asking for access to Tullett information over alternative distribution channels, Mukerji said .

Indeed, in a deal in the works before Moneyline cancelled its agreement with Tullett, the broker said it was planning to launch its SwapMarker North America service on Bloomberg. SwapMarker North America provides the same data carried on Moneyline Telerate. The data will go live on Bloomberg today.SwapMarker North America also includes real-time US Treasury bonds, swap spreads and interest rate swaps, US dollar basis swaps, caps and floors and swaption volatilities. Also included are Canadian Treasury bonds, swap spreads and interest rate swaps and Canadian basis swaps, caps, floors and swaption volatilities.

SwapMarker North America was launched on Reuters at the end of last year. Mukerji said it will be available within the next two months on Thomson Financial’s ILX and CQG.