TradeWeb wins this award for the third year in a row, and deserves it in 2002 as much as it did before. After establishing itself early on as a high-quality platform for US treasuries, it simply continues to add new banks, new buy-side firms, new products and new back-end efficiencies. It has become an integral part of dealer-to-client business in several markets and the pace of development shows no signs of slowing.
The early model was simple but effective - an enquiry-based dealer-to-investor system for US treasuries, with seven of the biggest dealers involved as shareholders and dealers. Soon the platform was putting through trillions of dollars in trading, and now has 20 dealers on the system.
That sort of volume makes it exceptional in online trading systems, as does the fact that it is a consortium site that is making a profit. However, TradeWeb very quickly expanded its range of products beyond US treasuries. It continued to evolve, even when tough market conditions meant that other sites had to freeze development or fold altogether.
Since last year, growth in US and European sovereign trade volumes has continued apace. US treasuries volume was up 40% in the first six months of 2002, while euro sovereign volumes went from around e25 billion a month to over e70 billion in the 12 months to June 2002.