Cameron Systems works with South African partner to help the Bond Exchange of South Africa

5 June 2004

Cameron Systems works with South African partner to help the Bond Exchange of South Africa deploy FIX for fixed income In conjunction with its partner in South Africa, Peresys, Cameron has worked with BESA in its project to provide FIX connectivity to more than 55 exchange members

The Bond Exchange of South Africa (BESA) is pioneering the use of the FIX protocol for fixed income transactions with the help of Cameron Systems. The Bond Exchange is deploying CameronFIX in its BTB Trade Capture System, and will provide FIX connectivity to more than 55 members of the exchange.

“BESA has gone live with the exchange’s membership while the rest of the world has been talking about FIX for fixed income,” Glenn Cruickshank at Cameron Systems told stpzone.com. “The Bond Exchange of South Africa pioneered FIX for fixed income, and this is the first live implementation of FIX for fixed income at an exchange in the world.”

Cruickshank says the Bond Exchange wanted to be proactive with changes to its system. “It was an opportunity that the Bond Exchange of South Africa had with the redevelopment of systems.” He says the exchange couldn’t afford to wait for the FIX protocol fixed income committee to ratify FIX 4.4. “They’re adamant that they made the right decision,” says Cruickshank. “FIX is flexible enough to deal with this.”

BESA was able to use FIX by utilising parts of FIX 4.3 and 4.4. It used version 4.3 messages and the message tags were complemented by additions from FIX 4.4. This was all endorsed by the BMA to support fixed income.

This move will impact South African FIX usage. “To go from 0 to 55 exchange members using FIX for fixed income is a big move,” Cruickshank says.

The system deployment comprised two separate systems integrated into a single system for the members of the Bond Traders Association. The BTB Trade Capture and BTA Price Discovery systems replace BESA’s Bond Automated Trading System (BATS). The Price Discovery system, an integrated component of the Trade Capture system, also uses the FIX protocol to receive and communicate price information.

Cameron Systems’ partner in the region, Peresys, was contracted by the Bond Exchange to develop its new fixed income trading platform using FIX.

“Peresys is a partner of Cameron Systems in South Africa. They resell and support Cameron Systems in the South African geography. It was a natural progression to work with them for this,” says Cruickshank. Cameron Systems partnered with Peresys last year to create The Equities Routing Hub for South Africa.

Source: STP Zone