The share of U.S. market participants trading foreign exchange electronically increased to 82 percent in 2012 from 76 percent in 2011, according to Greenwich Associates. Heads of electronic trading depart Citigroup, State Street. Traiana launches trade data repository.
E-TRADING: The share of U.S. market participants trading foreign exchange electronically increased to 82 percent in 2012 from 76 percent in 2011, according to Greenwich Associates.
Despite a modest slump in global foreign exchange trading activity last year, electronic FX trading systems attracted new clients both in developed markets and in Asia, where market fragmentation and other factors had slowed the adoption of electronic trading in prior years, according to the capital markets consulting and research firm.
The share of institutions and companies trading FX electronically in the United Kingdom increased to 82 percent from 80 percent. In continental Europe, the share of market participants executing trades electronically increased to 75 percent from 73 percent, the firm said.
The share of Japanese companies and institutions trading FX electronically jumped to 45% in 2012 from just 38% in 2011, Greenwich Associates said..
Japanese market participants, Greenwich said, “have been slow to adopt electronic trading in part due to concerns that a switch to e-trading would undermine personal relationships with banks that are seen as invaluable sources of market information, trade ideas, sales coverage and support and credit.’’
“Globally, two thirds of institutions most active in foreign exchange markets now trade electronically, including nearly 80 percent of participating financial institutions and over half of corporations,” says Greenwich Associates consultant Woody Canaday.
Including short-term transactions, electronic trading systems captured 71 percent of global FX trading volume in 2012.
TRADE DATA STORAGE: Traiana has launched its swap data repository, which will be used to keep track of foreign exchange trades, in accordance with U.S.and European regulatory requirements.
The Harmony TR Connect service will comply with trade reporting requirements under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act and the European Union’s European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
The repository will handle post-trade reporting of foreign exchange, interest-rate and credit default swap trades.
This includes initial trade reporting, Unique Swap Identifier generation, Legal Entity Identifier/Unique Product Identifier “enrichment,” trade amendments, cancellations and snapshot reporting.
Harmony CCP Connect will provide firms with a gateway to other FX infrastructure operators as well.
PEOPLE: Mark Barnes, global head of macro client trading and foreign exchange options, has left the Royal Bank of Scotland has left the bank. He had worked at RBS since 2002, when he joined from Merrill Lynch … RBS also is set to have is set to Tim Carrington, global head of currencies and emerging markets, share his role with colleague Fabian Shey, according to eFinancial News …. Carrington will take responsibility for trading, while Shey will focus on sale … Clifford Lewis has left his post as head of electronic trading in FX at State Street. Lewis was head of the high-speed trading platform Currenex that State Street bought in 2007… State Street named Jeff Conway head of a global echange group that would take in electronic trading of foreign exchange … Simon James left his post as global head of electronic trading for foreign exchange across G10 and emerging markets at Citigroup.
