SGX, Trumid and Hillhouse Capital form joint venture – XinTru

By Edil Corneille

Singapore Exchange (SGX), Trumid and Hillhouse Capital have formed a joint venture, XinTru, to enhance liquidity and execution in the Asian bond market for global clients.

This partnership combines Trumid’s technology and fixed income expertise, SGX’s deep experience in the Asian financial market infrastructure and electronic trading, and Hillhouse’s expertise and network in Asia and the financial services sector.

XinTru will launch and operate Trumid XT, an electronic bond trading platform powered by advanced technology and rich analytics. With an emphasis on domain-focused and intuitive product design, the platform will seamlessly fit into traders’ workflows. Trumid XT will connect the commercial footprint and liquidity from SGX’s Bond Pro and Trumid’s Market Center in the United States (US), to provide a robust network for the trading of Asian fixed income.

Trumid XT will enhance international access to Asian bond markets, while also facilitating Asian investor participation in the US and global emerging market credit.

With Trumid XT’s launch, SGX Bond Pro’s diverse client base across the Asia Pacific, UK, Europe and the Middle East will be able to connect seamlessly on one platform.

Strategic partnership to elevate bond trading in Asia

SGX first invested in Trumid back in 2018 and subsequently joined Hillhouse Capital in another round of investment in 2019 when Hillhouse Capital took a minority stake in Trumid.

Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer of SGX said, “Our early investment in Trumid paved the way for this deeper collaboration to advance the overall bond market infrastructure in Asia. Leveraging our Asian network and our Bond Pro business, we are excited to partner with Trumid and Hillhouse to accelerate the digitalisation and realise the full potential of Asia’s bond trading markets. XinTru brings together the unique characteristics of the partners in a joint venture where the sum is much greater than the parts.

“Our upcoming platform, Trumid XT, is the missing link between Asian and US markets and will connect their respective liquidity pools in a transparent and efficient manner. Offering solutions that support the existing dealer-to-client market structure as well as investor-to-investor, Trumid XT will create network effects that can unlock significant opportunities in Asian bond trading markets for our clients.”

Mike Sobel, President of Trumid said, “Our US experience demonstrates that built-for-purpose technology and workflow tools can transform the bond trading experience. Our US clients are excited to introduce their colleagues in Asia to the Trumid XT platform. With our partners, we look forward to adding value for our global client base and driving growth of electronic bond trading in Asia.”

Lei Zhang, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Hillhouse said, “We believe that Asian bond markets are ready for the next level of growth. Given Trumid’s success in developing a state-of-the-art bond trading platform in the US, together with SGX’s fixed income experience in Asia as well as Hillhouse’s network and operational expertise, Trumid XT promises to be an outstanding Asian corporate bond trading platform for the world.”