Evolving the fixed income trade workflow in the digital innovation era: SCOUT the bot

Matt Harvey, Head of Fixed Income Execution Platforms & Digital Sales, Natwest Markets, highlights the bespoke software development we carried out for them to create the voice RFQ SCOUT.

Natwest Markets needed a way to create a hybrid between voice and electronic trading, where they could leverage the benefits of automation while preserving deep relationships with their clients. Their aim was for a client to be able to request levels, work with RFQs, and execute—all through seamless automation—without giving up the personal touch of a dedicated salesperson. NatWest called this innovative hybrid “digital voice” and named it SCOUT.

“Every second counts in volatile markets and the use of chat-bot tools ensures buy-side investors can go from quote to trade in the shortest time possible. Annually, NatWest Markets receives over 50,000 level requests from our clients on a voice basis.” Harvey comments. “During stressed market conditions, exacerbated by physical separation during the coronavirus crisis, the ability for sales and the client to leverage digital tools can help ensure pricing data is available instantly. An example here is the work done with Symphony and Adaptive Financial Consulting to build a voice request-for-quote (RFQ) assistant bot called SCOUT. Level requests can now be made and responded to instantly.”

He then explains that leading into an execution workflow is then also more efficient, where SCOUT helps structure the communication to enable workflow efficiency and reduction of dual entry on both sides.

“In an environment where execution timestamps should be consistent within one second between dealer and client, digitising workflow to enable timely accurate data capture is the only viable option” Harvey continues, “ SCOUT once again is an example of how by structuring the voice RFQ and making it available in the non-proprietary FDC3 format, the client and NatWest Markets has exactly the same data available to them.”