Overbond, a Toronto-based digital bond origination and execution platform, has appointed George Harrington to lead the firm’s expansion into the US.
The two-year-old platform aims to reduce the cost of new debt issues by streamlining the origination process and connecting corporate and government issuers directly with dealers and investors. It already has a strong footing in Canada, where it works with half of the top issuers and institutional investors.
As head of US business development based in New York, Harrington, who was formerly head of global markets at Bloomberg, will be responsible for extending the platform to more than 5,000 US clients.
Overbond aims to improve transparency and eliminate inefficiencies in new debt issues, using technology to optimise the price discovery process. Algorithms and machine learning capabilities aim to enhance the matching process and deliver improved credit investment intelligence to clients.
In a statement, Harrington said that Overbond’s expansion helps to address concerns that primary bond markets have lagged far behind secondary markets in a structural shift towards greater efficiency and transparency.
“Overbond’s proprietary algorithms have increased visibility of primary bond issue opportunities in Canada,” said Harrington. “In the US, Overbond will enable a wider ring of dealers, issuers, and investors to participate in primary issuance and at a dramatically lower cost.”
The firm says that issuers can reduce transaction costs by as much as 50% by removing inefficiencies within the search and price discovery stages of the debt issue process.
“George’s extensive expertise across both the buyside and sellside will be instrumental in furthering Overbond’s open platform strategy as we roll out our services to more than 5,000 US clients,” said Vuk Magdelinic, CEO of Overbond.
