Marshall Wace, the UK-based hedge fund major founded by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace, has adopted Bloomberg's machine learning-powered real-time pricing data service, IBVAL Front Office, to enhance its systematic credit strategies, according to a report by FTF News.

IBVAL Front Office delivers updated pricing every 15 seconds for investment-grade and high-yield credit securities across USD, EUR, and GBP markets, providing a crucial edge in the liquidity spectrum, according to Bloomberg.

IBVAL employs advanced artificial intelligence techniques to generate precise, near real-time pricing for approximately 45,000 bonds, allowing users to access highly accurate estimates of a bond’s likely trading price.

The report quotes Eric Isenberg, Global Head of Enterprise Data Pricing at Bloomberg, as saying that: “Bloomberg has been utilising AI for over 15 years, and IBVAL represents our commitment to delivering innovative tools that enhance operational and trading efficiency. The near real-time speed of IBVAL’s pricing enables buy-side clients to actively manage portfolios, execute trades, and develop credit algorithms with greater confidence.”

Marshall Wace, which manages $69bn in assets, integrates IBVAL data for idea generation and pre-trade analysis, especially during pre-market hours when pricing high-yield bonds can be particularly challenging. The hedge fund’s global operations rely on a mix of quantitative, systematic, and fundamental strategies, primarily in long-short equity, supported by proprietary systems.