Goldman Sachs has begun quietly pushing a computer program that allows investors to trade in the $8.4tn US corporate bond market without ever having to communicate with a person at the investment bank.
高盛(Goldman Sachs)开始悄悄推出一款计算机程序,让投资者在8.4万亿美元的美国公司债市场进行交易,而不必致电这家投行的员工。
Money managers and traders have in recent weeks received automated messages from the Goldman Sachs Algorithm offering prices at which to buy and sell highly rated corporate bonds.
最近几周,基金经理和交易员都收到了高盛算法(Goldman Sachs Algorithm)自动发出的讯息,提供可以买卖高评级公司债券的价格。
The profile of GSA, which Goldman has quietly run on some trading systems for about a year, increased last month after it was rolled it out on Bloomberg, one of the biggest Wall Street platforms.
该程序已在高盛的一些交易系统中悄然运行了约一年时间,只是上月在华尔街最大平台之一彭博(Bloomberg)推出后,才引起外界的关注。
The attempt to expand the program is part of an electronic revolution increasingly pushing out phone trading in the last holdout markets as banks are squeezed for profits.
扩大利用该程序的尝试是电子革命的一部分,在各银行都面临利润压力之际,这场革命正日益将电话交易挤出其最后坚守的几个市场。
Because of its size — the benchmark high-grade US corporate debt universe includes more than 7,000 securities, each of which is backed by voluminous documentation — the corporate bond market has been seen as too cumbersome and complex to fully automate and leave to computers.
由于其规模——基准优质美国企业债包括7000多种证券,每一种都包含大量的文件——公司债券市场此前被视为过于庞大和复杂,无法完全将交易留给电脑、实现自动化。
Dealing in equities and US government bonds is now almost entirely electronic and transparent, but two bonds sold from the same company can have a variety of differing risks — based on their size, maturity and structure — and are not interchangeable, like a stock.
如今,买卖股票及美国政府债券的交易几乎完全实现了电子化和透明化,但同一家公司出售的两种债券可能包含有多种不同程度的风险(基于它们的规模、期限和构成),不能像股票那样互换。
Trading still relies heavily on voice trading or messaging to establish prices.
公司债交易在很大程度上仍依赖于语音交易或即时信息来确定价格。
Although the Goldman system only caters to so-called oddlots — or trades worth less than $1m — its expansion comes as investment banks face pressure to cut costs in their once highly lucrative bond trading businesses.
虽然高盛这套系统只适用所谓的零星交易——即交易额低于100万美元——但其扩大使用发生在投行面临压力、要求它们在曾经利润丰厚的债券交易部门削减成本的背景下。
Regulations introduced since the financial crisis have also cut the appeal to banks of being middlemen between investors.
金融危机后出台的法规也减少了银行作为投资者之间中间人的吸引力。
In contrast to other lists of prices circulated on platforms such as Bloomberg that only give an indicative price — and require confirmation with a bank — those on Goldman’s program can be executed immediately.
与彭博等平台上的其他价格列表(只给出一个指示性价格,需要向某家银行确认)不同,高盛程序中的价格可以立即执行。
Prices offered on GSA are dynamic and respond to other trades and market conditions, according to several fund managers.
据一些基金经理表示,高盛算法提供的价格是动态的,响应其他交易和市场条件。
GSA offers $75m-$100m of bonds to trade each day, according to one fund manager, in a move that should free Goldman traders and salespeople to concentrate on more profitable trades.
据一位基金经理表示,高盛算法每天提供7500万到1亿美元的债券进行交易,此举应能让高盛交易员和销售人员专注于利润更高的交易。
Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
高盛不愿置评。