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Profit & Loss readers cast record numbers of votes for their preferred market makers and service providers this year, and award winners were on hand to collect trophies at the Profit & Loss Hall of Fame & FoXy’s Readers’ Choice Awards luncheon earlier today.
This year, Profit & Loss inducted Citi’s Rafael Quezada into its Hall of Fame. “There are few FX market professionals as respected and admired as Rafael Quezada,” said Profit & Loss’s editor-in-chief, Julie Ros. “I may not have known Rafa as long as others in the industry, but he has truly become one of my favourite people in FX; someone who garners such respect and admiration from peers around the world – for his kindness, his professionalism and his friendship.”
The FoXy’s
Following the Hall of Fame ceremony, the FoXy’s moved onto centre stage. This year was the first in which P&L changed the category descriptions from “banks” to “market makers” to account for the larger proportion of liquidity that non-banks now provide to the market, and this is reflected in the results.
The industry’s changing dynamics are starting to show, as this year’s winner of the Best Market Maker in Major Currencies goes to Virtu Financial. Virtu was an early adopter amongst the group of non-bank market makers that made the move from equities to FX back in 2003 in an early iteration of the firm, and then under the Virtu banner in 2008.
“Virtu has not only provided vital liquidity services to the market, but also gives back to the industry by way of its participation in such industry trade associations as the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association, as well as being a vocal proponent of the betterment of the industry by its participation at key industry events,” says Ros. “I’m pleased to see that our readers recognise the importance of this sector to the industry.”
Accepting the award, John Shay, EVP for Global Markets at Virtu, said: “As a company, Virtu is committed to the principles of making the currency markets operate efficiently and effectively for all market participants. We are honoured to receive this recognition.”
In the area of Prime Services, readers voted Citi as winner of the top Prime Broker, while in the service provider sector, INTL FCStone won the Prime award.
Within the realm of currency trading, Citi also took the best in FX Forwards, while Best in Commonwealth Currencies went to Barclays, Best in Emerging Markets to JP Morgan, and Best in NDFs was a Goldman Sachs win.
In the product categories, Best Market Maker in FX Options went to UBS, while BNP Paribas won Best in Algo Execution.
In the broker categories, readers voted RJ O’Brien as the Best FX Broker-Dealer, and ICAP (now owned by Tullett), won the Best FX Voice Broker.
In the platform categories, FXall won the Best Platform for Corporates; CME took Hedge Funds; FX Connect, Asset Managers; EBS the Inter-Dealer category; FX Margin Sector went to LMAX Exchange; Multi-Dealer to Currenex; and Best FX ECN went to Bats Hotspot.
In terms of service provision, Currenex won Best Liquidity Aggregation; Barracuda Best Order Management; Thomson Reuters Best Market Data; Traiana Best in Post-Trade and MarketFactory for Best in Connectivity.
More than 800 individuals across multiple time zones cast votes in 24 categories. Profit & Loss discounts all votes cast for one’s own company in order to maintain the integrity of the awards.
Profit & Loss is the leading publisher and conference producer for the foreign exchange industry. Launched in 1999, Profit & Loss consistently provides informative, relevant insights into the latest industry developments, placing a strong emphasis on analysing strategic shifts and technological advances to ensure readers are equipped with the knowledge they need for efficient growth. P&L’s premier industry events, which run under the Forex Network banner, provide ideal platforms for international networking and establishing valuable working relationships.
