The startup 280 CapMarkets recently launched the cloud based application Bond Navigator, which allows advisors to find, compare and evaluate municipal bonds, InvestmentNews writes.
How the New Platform Can Help Advisors
Bond Navigator "levels the playing field for independent advisers" as it provides more transparency in pricing by drawing together data from many sources, Gurinder Ahluwalia, 280 CapMarkets’ co-founder and chief executive, tells the publication. Independent advisors can find it hard to deal in bonds as large institutions have proprietary software for insights and significant influence on prices, Ahluwalia tells InvestmentNews.
This means that when advisors leave a firm, they are at “the mercy of their custodian or digital exchange," he tells the publication. Ahluwalia hopes to ensure the competitive pricing of bonds by using a team of fixed-income professionals who work with institutional sales and trading desks and advisor liaisons, he tells InvestmentNews.
Bond Navigator displays issuers on a map, which allows advisors to sort by geographic location and use filters to find relevant products, the publication writes. Ron Speaker, CEO and founder of Equus Wealth Management who helped test the software, notes that the map was well implemented, which is important as "investing in [municipal bonds] is a study of geography," he tells InvestmentNews. Speaker says that by using the map to identify relevant areas he could cut down the choice of bonds in California from more than 6,000 to just “a handful,” the publication writes.
However, there may not be a major uptake of Bond Navigator as “only a minority of advisers purchase individual bonds,” Joel Bruckenstein, of Technology Tools for Today, tells the publication. But he believes that the platform will make it easier for advisors who do want to boost their services and may entice advisors who have so far been undecided, InvestmentNews writes.
Bond Navigator doesn't charge a fee; instead, there's a commision charged on bonds purchased using the platform, Prescott Nasser, the chief technology office at 280 CapMarkets, tells the publication. This is in the hope that increased access to bonds will compel advisors to use the platform, Nesser tells InvestmentNews.
