UK's Elixium helps buy-side P2P repo trading find its feet
Buy-side firms concerned about rising costs and shrinking capacity in repurchase-agreement trading can find an alternative to bank facilitated repo in Elixium, the first peer-to-peer (P2P) repo trading platform. The platform claims to have secured industry-wide interest and aims to host daily European trading volumes of £10bn a day by the end of January and £20bn by the end of March. However, differences in the time frames over which many buy-side firms wish to trade, the complexities of dealing with multiple counterparties and increased documentation are potential deterrents to the uptake of such platforms.
On one hand, corporates are having difficulties finding places to put their cash. On the other, hedge funds needing liquidity are being turned away by banks. It seems logical to cut out the middleman and let buy-side firms provide liquidity to other buy-siders.

Elixium is one platform recently launched in the UK seeking to do just that, by fostering peer-to-peer repo trading and collateral transformation. The platform, run by Swiss interdealer broker Tradition, says it has talked to more than a