Tradeweb Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:TW), a global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, and Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, today announced their collaboration to offer institutional investors enhanced access to liquidity in Japanese exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The launch of a new direct link between Tradeweb and TSE’s request-for-quote (RFQ) platform, CONNEQTOR, allows Tradeweb buy-side clients to include CONNEQTOR liquidity providers when launching a trade enquiry on the Tradeweb Japan-listed ETF marketplace. Global X Japan executed the first transaction using this new connectivity.

Enrico Bruni, Head of Europe and Asia Business at Tradeweb, said:

“This exciting collaboration between Tradeweb and TSE’s CONNEQTOR platform demonstrates our focus on linking liquidity pools for the benefit of institutional investors looking to transfer risk with a higher degree of certainty. We are in the business of enhancing clients’ execution experience, and we look forward to bringing more time and cost efficiencies to investors trading Japanese ETFs, both locally and globally.”

Moriyuki Iwanaga, President of Tokyo Stock Exchange, said:

“CONNEQTOR has been developed as a platform to enable investors to trade ETFs “faster and cheaper”. We hope that the new connection with Tradeweb will promote investment in the Japanese market by allowing investors outside Japan, who have had difficulty using CONNEQTOR, to easily access ETFs listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange from overseas. TSE will continue to strive to provide and develop a highly convenient market environment, where investors can enjoy better prices and smoother execution.”

With Tradeweb’s direct link to CONNEQTOR, clients can submit orders from the Tradeweb user interface to CONNEQTOR’s list of market makers – in addition to Tradeweb’s network of liquidity providers – and receive the best two-way quote back. Clients will continue to benefit from innovative functionality, such as Tradeweb’s rules-based automated execution tool, AiEX, and the post-trade infrastructure of TSE, where transactions with CONNEQTOR market makers will be cleared and settled.

Since its launch in February 2021, CONNEQTOR has aimed to improve the speed of ETF trading in Japan, allowing investors to trade at real-time best price quoted, while reducing transaction costs and improving operational efficiency. CONNEQTOR is used by more than 250 institutional investors, and they can trade ETFs by requesting simultaneous quotes from market makers around the world, without having counterparty risks.