如果高盛集團前高管的一項計劃順利實施,華爾街的債券交易員可能很快就能像棒球傳奇人物霍納斯?瓦格納、威利?梅斯和皮特?羅斯一樣人過留名。
是的,棒球卡制度要加入金融圈了。
按照債券交易和分析公司BondCliQ的創始人克里斯?懷特的想法,數字卡片可以體現全新的統計方法,衡量債券交易員和債券經銷商銷售的業績。本次懷特邀請投資者保羅?德波德斯塔幫忙,保羅曾經用全新統計方法來提升奧克蘭棒球隊的成績,變身為冠軍的有力爭奪者,邁克爾?劉易斯的書《點球成金》(Moneyball)中有所提及。
債券市場歷來判斷成功的標準就是,交易員有沒有賺錢?BondCliQ則想弄清楚交易員到底是技術高超還是運氣好。目前公司在收集數據,方便對沖基金或其他機構投資者等買方鑒定特定行業或證券中最優秀的交易商。交易商能看到在競爭對手中的排名。可以想見,如果交易員能連年高居榜首,就可以利用數據來爭取更高的薪酬。
公司的首席執行官懷特接受采訪時說:“我們的市場里數據為王,但對各人水平其實知之甚少。買方希望知道應該找誰合作,經銷商也希望有機會展示自身實力。”
懷特提供的模擬卡顯示,相關數據包括市場板塊、買入賣出債務的平均久期,以及提供的報價數量。公司還將計算所謂專家百分比和做市商百分比的統計數據。
懷特表示,專家百分比是指“你的定價通常也是市場上的最優價格”。他說,做市商統計數據針對“能代表市場”的交易商。最終目標是通過提高個人和銀行的聲譽,為債券提出更合適的報價。
當前的情況是市場規模比以往更龐大,風險可能也更高。過去八年里,每年美國投資級公司新出售的公司債務都超過1萬億美元,最快速度出現在2020年,5月創下紀錄。
BondCliQ正在搭建系統收集、維護和發布銀行對債券交易員及銷售人員的統計數據。懷特說,目前已經有34家交易商自愿提供定價數據。公司還會補充一些公開信息,例如債券報價系統Trace里的交易規模和價格等,以得出統計數據。
2010年至2015年,懷特曾經在高盛工作,開發出債券交易系統GSessions,但后來關閉。他還在咨詢公司ViableMkts LLC擔任首席執行官。
在提供債券價格信息方面,彭博新聞社的母公司彭博與BondCliQ存在競爭關系。
德波德斯塔于1999年加入奧克蘭運動家隊,擔任總經理比利?比恩的助理,2004-05年擔任洛杉磯道奇隊的總經理,現在是職業橄欖球大聯盟克利夫蘭布朗隊的首席戰略官。他在接受采訪時表示,之所以被BondCliQ吸引,是因為有機會在市場中引入系統的組織方式。
“我們在棒球運動中能做的是收集大量數據,以更深入了解身處的世界。”他說。“在這里,我看到了同樣的機會,而且范圍要大得多。”
德波德斯塔說,原來認為債券市場價格有一定的透明度,但事實并非如此。
“不敢相信”
“幾乎每次跟人談起都有人說‘不敢相信’——這樣做就可以?”他說。如果一年能賺5億美元的債券柜臺“算很棒?”他說。“標準應該定為10億美元,還是定在200萬美元方便創佳績?”
德波德斯塔說,利用統計數據提升債券交易業績,能體現出他在職業體育領域的經驗,而他的經驗也是劉易斯原著改編的電影里“喬納?希爾”角色靈感的來源。
他說:“我們在向必然之路前進。棒球如此,橄欖球也一樣。需求太大,確實難以拒絕。”
懷特希望BondCliQ向債券交易員展示如何與其他銀行的同行競爭,從而全面提升定價能力。他表示,本月底前公司會將業績單發給交易商主管,7月初買方客戶就能看到排名。
他說:“交易商都想爭奪訂單,最好的競爭方式就是更多業績方面的數據。”(財富中文網)
注:丹?威爾金斯對本文亦有貢獻。
譯者:Feb
如果高盛集團前高管的一項計劃順利實施,華爾街的債券交易員可能很快就能像棒球傳奇人物霍納斯?瓦格納、威利?梅斯和皮特?羅斯一樣人過留名。
是的,棒球卡制度要加入金融圈了。
按照債券交易和分析公司BondCliQ的創始人克里斯?懷特的想法,數字卡片可以體現全新的統計方法,衡量債券交易員和債券經銷商銷售的業績。本次懷特邀請投資者保羅?德波德斯塔幫忙,保羅曾經用全新統計方法來提升奧克蘭棒球隊的成績,變身為冠軍的有力爭奪者,邁克爾?劉易斯的書《點球成金》(Moneyball)中有所提及。
債券市場歷來判斷成功的標準就是,交易員有沒有賺錢?BondCliQ則想弄清楚交易員到底是技術高超還是運氣好。目前公司在收集數據,方便對沖基金或其他機構投資者等買方鑒定特定行業或證券中最優秀的交易商。交易商能看到在競爭對手中的排名。可以想見,如果交易員能連年高居榜首,就可以利用數據來爭取更高的薪酬。
公司的首席執行官懷特接受采訪時說:“我們的市場里數據為王,但對各人水平其實知之甚少。買方希望知道應該找誰合作,經銷商也希望有機會展示自身實力。”
懷特提供的模擬卡顯示,相關數據包括市場板塊、買入賣出債務的平均久期,以及提供的報價數量。公司還將計算所謂專家百分比和做市商百分比的統計數據。
懷特表示,專家百分比是指“你的定價通常也是市場上的最優價格”。他說,做市商統計數據針對“能代表市場”的交易商。最終目標是通過提高個人和銀行的聲譽,為債券提出更合適的報價。
當前的情況是市場規模比以往更龐大,風險可能也更高。過去八年里,每年美國投資級公司新出售的公司債務都超過1萬億美元,最快速度出現在2020年,5月創下紀錄。
BondCliQ正在搭建系統收集、維護和發布銀行對債券交易員及銷售人員的統計數據。懷特說,目前已經有34家交易商自愿提供定價數據。公司還會補充一些公開信息,例如債券報價系統Trace里的交易規模和價格等,以得出統計數據。
2010年至2015年,懷特曾經在高盛工作,開發出債券交易系統GSessions,但后來關閉。他還在咨詢公司ViableMkts LLC擔任首席執行官。
在提供債券價格信息方面,彭博新聞社的母公司彭博與BondCliQ存在競爭關系。
德波德斯塔于1999年加入奧克蘭運動家隊,擔任總經理比利?比恩的助理,2004-05年擔任洛杉磯道奇隊的總經理,現在是職業橄欖球大聯盟克利夫蘭布朗隊的首席戰略官。他在接受采訪時表示,之所以被BondCliQ吸引,是因為有機會在市場中引入系統的組織方式。
“我們在棒球運動中能做的是收集大量數據,以更深入了解身處的世界。”他說。“在這里,我看到了同樣的機會,而且范圍要大得多。”
德波德斯塔說,原來認為債券市場價格有一定的透明度,但事實并非如此。
“不敢相信”
“幾乎每次跟人談起都有人說‘不敢相信’——這樣做就可以?”他說。如果一年能賺5億美元的債券柜臺“算很棒?”他說。“標準應該定為10億美元,還是定在200萬美元方便創佳績?”
德波德斯塔說,利用統計數據提升債券交易業績,能體現出他在職業體育領域的經驗,而他的經驗也是劉易斯原著改編的電影里“喬納?希爾”角色靈感的來源。
他說:“我們在向必然之路前進。棒球如此,橄欖球也一樣。需求太大,確實難以拒絕。”
懷特希望BondCliQ向債券交易員展示如何與其他銀行的同行競爭,從而全面提升定價能力。他表示,本月底前公司會將業績單發給交易商主管,7月初買方客戶就能看到排名。
他說:“交易商都想爭奪訂單,最好的競爭方式就是更多業績方面的數據。”(財富中文網)
注:丹?威爾金斯對本文亦有貢獻。
譯者:Feb
Wall Street bond traders may soon be immortalized in the fashion of baseball legends Honus Wagner, Willie Mays and Pete Rose if a plan by a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive takes off.
That’s right, baseball cards are coming to finance.
The brainchild of Chris White, founder of bond trading and analytics firm BondCliQ, the digital cards reflect a new statistical approach to measure the effectiveness of individual traders and salespeople on dealer bond desks. White brought in as an investor Paul DePodesta, who used novel statistical methods to elevate the Oakland Athletics baseball team to a title contender, a story captured in the Michael Lewis book “Moneyball.”
The bond market has historically leaned on one metric for success — did a trader make money? BondCliQ wants to shed some light on whether rainmakers are good or lucky. It is collecting data that can allow buyers such as hedge funds or other institutional investors to identify the best dealer traders in a given sector or security. And dealers can see how they rank among competitors. Presumably, traders who top the list year after year could use the stats to argue for better pay.
“Here we are in a market where data is king, but we have very little information on who is qualified,” White, the firm’s chief executive officer, said in an interview. “The buy side wants to know who they should engage. The dealers want an opportunity to show why it should be them.”
The data will include market sector, average maturity of debt bought and sold and the number of quotes provided, according to a mock card provided by White. The firm will also calculate stats called specialist percentage and market-maker percentage.
The specialist percentage is “when you make a price that’s normally the best price in the market,” White said. The market-maker stat denotes traders who “are the market,” he said. The end goal is to create better bond prices by putting both individual and bank reputations on the line.
The effort comes as the market is bigger and perhaps riskier than it’s ever been. U.S. investment-grade companies have sold more than $1 trillion in new corporate debt in each of the last eight years — and the fastest pace was set in 2020, when the mark was reached in May.
BondCliQ is creating a system to collect, maintain and publish stats on bond traders and salespeople by bank. It has 34 dealers that voluntarily provide pricing data, White said. The firm supplements that with some public information such as Trace-reported deal size and price to derive the stats.
White was at Goldman Sachs from 2010 to 2015, where he created GSessions, a bond-trading system that has since been shut down. He’s also CEO of advisory firm ViableMkts LLC.
Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with BondCliQ in providing bond-price information.
DePodesta joined the Oakland A’s as an assistant to general manager Billy Beane in 1999 and was general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2004-05. Now the chief strategy officer for the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns, he said in an interview that he was attracted to BondCliQ by the chance to bring a systemic organizing approach to the market.
“What we were able to do in baseball is aggregate a lot of the data to better understand the world we were operating in,” he said. “I saw the same opportunity here but on a much greater scale.”
DePodesta said he’d assumed there was a certain level of price transparency in the bond market, but there isn’t.
“Can’t Believe This”
“With each conversation there was almost an ‘I can’t believe this’ moment — this is the way it’s done?” he said. If a bond desk makes $500 million a year “is that good?” he said. “Should that have been $1 billion or should it have been $2 million and they hit it out of the park?”
DePodesta said the use of stats to improve bond-trading performance will mirror his experience in professional sports, which was part of the inspiration for Jonah Hill’s character in the movie adaptation of Lewis’s book.
“It’s a march to the inevitable here. It was the same with baseball, it’s the same with football,” he said. “The need is so overwhelming you won’t be able to resist it.”
White wants BondCliQ to show bond traders how they stack up against counterparts at other banks so that pricing improves across the board. He said his firm will send report cards to dealer-desk heads by the end of this month and the rankings will be visible to buy-side clients in early July.
“Dealers really want to compete for order flow,” he said. “The best way to compete is if there’s more data around performance.”
–With assistance from Dan Wilchins.