Christiana Bank and Trust Co. of Greenville, Del., says it has accelerated its bond trading and improved service to trust accounts by executing odd-lot fixed-income transactions online instead of phoning brokers.
The $166 million-asset bank does much of its business through its individual and commercial trust operations with $2 billion of assets under administration, and $400 million of assets under management.
Lyn M. White, an investment officer at Christiana Bank, said the trust unit switched two years ago to the online bond-trading service operated by BondDesk Group of Mill Valley, Calif., which is mostly owned by the private-equity firm Advent International Corp. of Boston.
Because Christiana handles many small trust accounts, it often has to make small transactions, Ms. White said in an interview Wednesday. BondDesk's online service has more than 100 broker-dealers contributing their municipals, corporates, agencies, treasuries to its liquidity pool.
"It's hard to call brokers and say you want five bonds or 10 bonds and have them take you seriously," Ms. White said. "This way you are executing the transaction yourself and you know you are getting the best execution for your client."
Trading in odd lots also reduces the need to pool customers' assets.
"Now we can do the trade right away. That saves us a lot of time," Ms. White said. "Clients don't remain uninvested, so that's a big help."
