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Northern Trust recently announced that its Integrated Trading Solutions (ITS) outsourced trading business has indeed seen significant growth, with its client base expanding by nearly 17% from the end of 2023 to the end of the first quarter of 2025.
This growth is largely attributed to:
* Increased demand for fixed income outsourced trading: Northern Trust’s ITS has observed impressive growth in fixed income trading across various client profiles, including traditional asset managers, hedge funds, public and corporate treasurers, and other asset owners. Their fixed income trading volume quadrupled in the U.S. and doubled in EMEA over the last three years, as clients sought exposure to a wide range of fixed income products.
* Asset managers seeking cost reduction: In a challenging market environment, asset managers are looking to reduce costs, and outsourced trading offers a solution by shifting from fixed to variable costs, and providing access to expertise and infrastructure without the need for in-house investment.
What is Northern Trust’s Integrated Trading Solutions (ITS)?
ITS is Northern Trust’s global outsourced trading solution. It provides institutional clients (like asset managers, pension funds, corporations, and hedge funds) with:
* Global, multi-asset class coverage: It offers 24/6 market coverage in over 80 markets, covering equities, fixed income, and exchange-traded derivatives.
* Access to a vast broker network: Clients can access a large global network of over 450 brokers, including global firms and local specialists.
* Integrated services: It combines agency-only trading expertise with a fully integrated middle and back-office service. This means they handle the entire lifecycle of a trade from order ingestion to settlement.
* Benefits for clients: ITS aims to help clients:
* Lower costs
* Reduce risk
* Manage regulatory compliance
* Enhance transparency and operational efficiency
* Access new asset classes and geographic territories without significant internal investment.
The continued strong growth of ITS highlights a broader trend in the institutional investment industry where more firms are opting to outsource their trading functions to specialized providers like Northern Trust.

Video courtesy of ABN-AMRO

Video courtesy of ABN-AMRO