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The 2015 Trading Technology 40: Raymond Tierney III
#3 Raymond Tierney III, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bloomberg Tradebook

Although the much-anticipated extension of automated trading into instruments beyond equities remains only partly realized, to Raymond Tierney III of Bloomberg Tradebook, “It’s real and it’s happening now.” Much of Tierney’s focus over the past 12 months has been on preparing the New York–based Bloomberg agency brokerage, which serves more than 1,000 clients, for cross-asset e-trading. Last July, Bloomberg LP, the parent of Tradebook, acquired RTS Realtime Systems, a provider of low-latency connectivity and trading tools for equities, fixed income, futures, options and foreign exchange. “Before this, speed and capacity were not the first reasons someone would call Bloomberg Tradebook,” says Tierney, 55,who became CEO of Tradebook in 2010 after 16 years with Morgan Stanley. “As the rapid electronification of markets continues, it makes ultralow latency and connectivity across asset classes a top priority.” With many firms capital-constrained and migrating away from principal trading and toward an agency model, they will “need electronic offerings to build scale and serve global clients,” Tierney observes. In October, Tradebook launched an RFQ (request for quote) service for exchange-traded funds, covering both liquid and thinly traded products. “ETFs account for 17 percent of actual trading volume in the U.S.,” Tierney notes. “There’s a real need for something more than an algo to affect this type of trading.” Tradebook volume grew 5 percent in 2014, with nondollar business rising 26 percent. Tierney sees “a thirst for global products — and it’s cross-asset-class. We sit at the epicenter of that.”
See also Tierney's profile in the 2013 Trading Technology 40 and the 2012 Trading Technology 30.