The world of online money market fund trading portals gets a new entrant this week as Tradefunds (www.finacorptradefunds.com) begins operations. The new site says, "Finacorp Securities has teamed with The Bank of New York Mellon to establish Tradefunds.... The Tradefunds portal provides institutional clients with direct access to over 25 leading mutual fund families and over 100 specific money market funds -- all through one account, one wire, one agreement, with one consolidated statement."
President & CEO Ed Prado tells Crane Data, "We're pretty excited. There's a lot of emphasis on the money market space, and there's been an explosion of assets." On their minority- and Hispanic-owned angle, Prado says, "Finacorp Securities works with a lot of clients that have minority mandates in place, and this platform allows them to invest and satisfy diversity goals."
Partner Bank of New York Mellon launched the first money market fund trading portal in 1997, MoneyFunds DIRECT, one of the largest online money fund trading portals. Finacorp also founded the first "online trading platform for bonds, Tradebonds.com," according to the firms's website.
Finacorp's Tradefunds joins the rapidly-growing but increasingly crowded online money fund trading marketplace. Crane Data currently tracks 20 offerings with approximately $340 billion in assets, including minority-owned Capital Network Inc. and new entrants PNC Pinacle, UBS and Wachovia Connection.
