Online pricing and hedging tool now optimized for mobile access
INTL FCStone Inc. (NASDAQ: INTL) today announced that its swap dealer and wholly owned subsidiary, INTL FCStone Markets, LLC (“IFM” or “the Company”), has enhanced its structured products online calculator (SPOC) with the addition of custom pricing functionality. The Company also disclosed today that SPOC has been optimized for mobile access.
SPOC is an online pricing tool that provides qualified users with open access to IFM’s structured products pricing portfolio, showcasing thousands of prices across asset classes in order to bring transparency to the marketplace. With the new custom pricing feature, qualified users can now seamlessly view the Company’s real-time structured product quotes at levels other than the current board price. IFM has developed this functionality based directly on client feedback, and it better facilitates the strategies of those customers who want to hedge a given structured product at a specific price. For example, the custom pricing feature would allow a qualified user to determine how far the price of corn would need to move in order for them to hedge effectively. The enhancement builds on the early and substantial success of SPOC, which has seen its qualified user base grow to more than 750 customers since its launch in October 2017.
Mark Maurer, Chief Executive Officer at INTL FCStone Markets, LLC, commented on today’s news, “Determining the most beneficial hedging strategy can be difficult without the right tools in place, but SPOC significantly streamlines this process for our customers. The addition of custom pricing functionality provides even greater transparency by highlighting structured product pricing information that is not available elsewhere. In addition to our technology solutions, the expertise of our team is unmatched, and SPOC allows instantaneous and direct connection to INTL FCStone brokers and traders so that they may assist in strategy development and implementation.”
IFM has optimized SPOC for mobile use, enabling customers to access all functionality in an easy- to-view manner from any device. Regardless of where a qualified user may be when they login to the platform, they will be provided with educational resources on the Company’s structured products, a Mid-Market Mark that brings transparency to the forefront, and more. Additionally, SPOC stores customer pricing histories for reference against future hedging activities. The IFM team analyzes each client’s entire risk profile, combined with their initial hedging targets, in order to locate potential risks that the customer may not have considered.
Mr. Maurer concluded, “We are committed to promoting transparency in the OTC market, and to helping producers and qualified users tailor their hedging programs to suit their unique needs. This philosophy drives us to continually enhance SPOC based on client feedback, as well as our other technology solutions. Our business is built upon a foundation of added-value client service, and the recent enhancements to SPOC further our mission of redefining high-touch while assisting clients in building comprehensive risk management strategies.”
