FXMarketSpace, the world’s first centrally-cleared, global foreign exchange (FX) platform for the over-the-counter market, today announced that it is fully operational and open for trading. The launch, which represents a major evolution in the FX industry, arrives on schedule, coming just 11 months after Reuters and CME announced the creation of FXMarketSpace in May 2006.
A total of 12 clearing prime brokers are already live on FXMarketSpace, ensuring that their customers can start to trade immediately. An additional eight are joining. Customers have successfully tested both their ability to connect to and use FXMarketSpace, and more recently have started to trade actively in a live environment.
Today, 76 customers are either live or in the process of joining, significantly ahead of initial expectations. Some of the participating banks and prime brokers include ABN Amro, Bank of America, Barclays Capital Prime Services, Bear Stearns Forex, Calyon Financial, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank FX Prime Brokerage, JPMorgan, Penson GHCO, Prudential Financial/Bache Financial, Rand Financial Services, Inc., RBS, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking and UBS. Other financial institutions include D|Square, FX Concepts, GMO, Infinium and Saxon Financial.
FXMarketSpace believes that it has the potential to transform the institutional FX market through its centrally cleared credit model which includes: -
- Broader access enabled by CME Globex® API connection and over 100,000 Reuters FX desktops, supplemented by access through four Independent Software Vendors: Flextrade, GL Trade, Patsystems and Trading Technologies, Inc.
- Trading anonymity through a central counterparty model that enables all customers to buy and sell without having their name disclosed to other market participants
- Greater transparency where all prices are now available to all participants and five levels of market depth are displayed; increased price transparency will enable greater participation and increased liquidity
- Robust, scalable technology that supports minimum latency and maximum order throughput
The platform enables trading in Spot FX across six major currencies - the Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound, Australian Dollar, Swiss Franc and Canadian Dollar against the US Dollar, as well as four cross-currency pairs.
Mark Robson, Chief Executive Officer, FXMarketSpace said:
“Today is a landmark event for FXMarketSpace and we believe for the FX industry as a whole. The launch of our platform means that the doors are now open for a broader and more diverse range of institutions to participate in the global FX market, which will benefit from better execution and the increased efficiencies that we can offer. Our existing customers are already convinced of our ability to meet their needs and deliver high-performance results. FXMarketSpace will fuel further rapid growth in our industry and create new opportunities for our customers.”
Tom Glocer, Chief Executive Officer, Reuters said:
“FXMarketSpace represents the next step in the evolution of the FX markets, directly in response to customer demand. It brings innovations including central counter-party clearing, more efficient credit handling, anonymity and raw speed. Reuters is very pleased to be bringing these benefits to our community of over 100,000 FX market participants.”
Craig Donohue, Chief Executive Officer, CME said:
“FXMarketSpace is a key component in CME’s strategy of leveraging our trade matching and clearing strengths in the OTC market. As I said when we launched this venture last year, we believe that FXMarketSpace has the potential to revolutionise the FXMarket. Today’s launch marks the beginning of that transformation.”
Customer Remarks
Brian Duff, Head of Prime Brokerage at RBS Greenwich Capital said:
"The development of a centrally cleared FX trading platform for the OTC market allows us to both extend our product offering to existing customers and attract new entrants to our Prime Brokerage business."
Kevin Kennedy, Chief Technology Officer at Prudential Financial/Bache Financial said:
“FXMarketSpace allows Prudential to satisfy the increasing customer demand for an FX trading venue that maximises clearing and settlement efficiencies."
Kelly Adams, Chief Technology Officer at FX Concepts said:
“The launch of FXMarketSpace is a significant event in the evolution of FX, as the benefits of an exchange are finally available to the cash FX market.”
Damian Mitchell, Managing Partner at D|Square said:
“FXMarketSpace provides us with the opportunity to trade FX with a more diverse community in a transparent, low latency environment.”
About FXMarketSpace
FXMarketSpace, a 50/50 joint venture between Reuters, and CME, is the first centrally-cleared, global, over the counter foreign exchange (FX) marketplace. FXMarketSpace is the first FX platform involving the entire spectrum of market participants including global and regional banks, asset managers, corporations, hedge funds and other market makers. The platform utilises CME’s central counterparty model and clearing function, with access via Reuters premium desktop services and CME’s API. The result is a platform that is uniquely positioned to reduce risk, provide deep liquidity, support anonymity and price discovery, while cutting costs and increasing efficiencies for inter-dealer and institutional FX transactions. FXMarketSpace is authorised by the FSA as an Alternative Trading System. For more information please visit www.fxmarketspace.com.
