Implementing the FIX Protocol for the Primary Equity Market

Innovecs supported a UK-based fintech platform in building a FIX protocol infrastructure for the primary equity market. The project enabled institutional investors to submit orders, receive execution reports, and allocations via FIX — creating a standardized, enterprise-ready digital alternative to manual deal flows.
FinTech

About customer

A UK-based fintech company building a digital platform for primary market securities. Traditionally, primary equity and bond issuance relied on manual workflowsphone calls, emails, spreadsheets. The customer’s mission is to digitize this process, streamline issuance and subscription, and make the primary market more accessible to institutional investors and issuers. 

Project Summary

Innovecs contributed to the development of a new FIX protocol infrastructure within the client’s existing platform. This capability allows investors to log in via FIX, access available deals, submit orders, and receive allocation updates through standardized FIX messages. The project is a cornerstone of the client’s product roadmap, expected to become its primary revenue driver and a magnet for large institutional clients. 

Challenge

  • Manual Processes:

    Primary market workflows were unstructured (emails, calls, notes) with no standardized automation.

  • Adoption Barrier:

    Institutional investors and banks expect FIX, the industry-standard protocol, for connectivitythe lack of FIX support limited adoption

  • Scalability:

    Needed to build a robust infrastructure capable of handling multiple high-volume institutional clients without system overload.

  • Performance Expectations:

    FIX is widely used in secondary markets, where ultra-low latency is standard. Adapting FIX for the primary market posed performance and optimization challenges. 

Solution

  • Infrastructure Architecture:

    Designed an AWS-based distributed system with per-client Lambda queues to ensure isolation and prevent overload (backpressure).

  • Core Implementation:

    Built functionality to handle FIX logon, fetch relevant deals, convert them into FIX messages, and deliver to investors.

  • Execution Reports:

    Implemented automatic feedback loopsinvestors receive FIX execution reports upon successful order creation.

  • Order Submission & Validation:

    Developed order creation, validation logic, and error handling (business rejection messages when inputs are invalid).

  • Allocations:

    Final MVP milestone included allocation reporting, where banks confirm final share distribution back to investors via FIX.

  • Collaboration:

    Continuous alignment with Product Owner, Team Lead, and CTO through weekly roadmap check-ins.

Technologies Used

AWS
DynamoDB
effect-ts
Fargate
Java
Jest
Lambda
NestJS
Playwright
Severless
SNS
SQS
Terraform

Results

MVP Delivered:
Complete FIX-based order lifecycle (logon → deal visibility → order submission → execution report → allocation).
Investor Connectivity:
First institutional clients scheduled to onboard in October 2025.
Adoption Potential:
Each institutional client represents a major bank or fund; securing even 10 clients would ensure significant revenue.
Future Roadmap:
Extend FIX connectivity to banks as well as investors.

Business Value

  • Standardized Connectivity:

    Adoption of FIX lowers integration barriers for banks and institutional investors, accelerating client onboarding.

  • Revenue Impact:

    FIX protocol expected to become the client’s primary revenue driver, enabling subscription-based or per-order monetization.

  • Market Differentiation:

    Positions the platform as one of the first to digitize the primary market with FIX integration, creating a competitive edge.

  • Scalability & Reliability:

    Cloud-native architecture ensures the ability to scale with large institutional clients while maintaining performance and isolation. 

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Karyna Prykhodko Innovecs
Karyna Prykhodko
Delivery Manager
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