eForex-April-2025-PAGES-HIGHRES

transforming global foreign exchange markets

e-FOREX

e-forex.net APRIL 2025

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF PUBLICATION

ELECTRONIC FX

SWAPS

Pace of change

accelerates

MENA e-FX

What’s fuelling the

technology revolution

FX OPTIONS

Innovation meets

increasing automation

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STRUCTURE

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2 APRIL 2025 e-FOREX

Welcome to

e-FOREX

transforming global foreign exchange markets

April 2025

Our market commentary article in this edition focuses on FX

swaps. Electronic trading of these instruments is increasing

and that will contribute to a number of significant changes

to market structure. Electronic platforms will provide pools

of liquidity from a wide range of market participants and

as automation increases transaction costs should decrease,

making it more cost-effective for firms to trade FX swaps.

Powerful analytics and risk management tools that were once

only available to larger institutions have become more widely

available and accessible, allowing smaller banks to better

manage their FX swap positions, monitor market conditions

and make more informed trading decisions. Data is going

to be central in the evolution of the FX swaps market and

with increasing electronification, real-time data feeds will

be integrated into risk management platforms, enabling

institutions to monitor and manage exposure continuously.

Addressing challenges around liquidity is currently one of the

key considerations for electronic FX swaps market participants

and this topic is something that we will be following closely

over the coming months.

Having covered developments with electronic FX swaps trading

we then turn our attention this month to FX options. The

technology for full electronic trading of FX options has been

available for some time but there are several reasons why it

has not advanced as rapidly as it might have. It’s possible that

there has been some push back from institutions who fear

that pricing options electronically could lead to competition

that will compress spreads. Nevertheless electronic trading of

FX options continues to gather pace as the various technical

challenges involved are overcome.

As with the swaps market, data and analytics are now playing

a crucial role in the evolution of e-FX options and efforts

to enhance liquidity are converging across market structure

innovation, protocol diversification and buy- and sell-side

engagement. Although we are unlikely to see a wave of new

platforms pushing the FX options market forward given that,

apart from anything else, they would be constrained by bank

liquidity which would be required to make any platform viable in

the long term, there is still a lot of upside in the progress being

made with FX options technology and we agree with some

commentators who think the timing now finally feels right for

the direct benefits of innovation in this space to be felt.

Susan Rennie

Susan.rennie@sjbmedia.net

Managing Editor

Charles Jago

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Editor (FX & Derivatives)

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APRIL 2025 e-FOREX 3

April 2025

CONTENTS

MARKET

COMMENTARY

12. Electronic FX Swaps:

Accelerating the pace of change

across the market

Addressing challenges around

liquidity remains one of the key

considerations for electronic FX

swaps market participants as the

market continues to evolve. Paul

Golden investigates.

TRADING

OPERATIONS

42. Innovation meets Automation:

Unlocking more opportunities

with new FX option trading

models and platforms

Automation is having a growing

impact on FX options trading, but

as Paul Golden discovers more

needs to be done to maximise the

efficiency of this market.

CONTENTS

Paul Golden

Electronic FX Swaps

Vivek Shankar

e-FX in MENA

Cristian Vlasceanu

Case Study

Mathijs Peeters

Provider Viewpoint

Kurt Adams

e-Forex Interview

Matt Barrett

FX in the Cloud

PROVIDER

VIEWPOINT

22. Siege FX: Moving risk

without moving markets

Mathijs Peeters delves into the

factors contributing to the Siege FX

platform’s success and the unique

advantages it offers to traders in

these challenging markets.

REGIONAL E-FX

PERSPECTIVE

24. Beyond Oil: How economic

diversification is fueling the

Middle East’s e-FX revolution

As the Middle East establishes its

strategic advantages in the global FX

ecosystem, technology has emerged

as the critical enabler transforming

these opportunities into practical

market growth. Vivek Shankar

explores the issues and looks into

why the region’s emergence as a

currency trading powerhouse is built

on several interconnected economic

foundations that extend well

beyond oil wealth.

E-FOREX INTERVIEW

34. IPC Systems: facilitating

smarter, faster and more efficient

FX trading

e-Forex speaks with Kurt Adams,

CEO of the firm.

ASK A PROVIDER

50. Examining the potential for

Cloud Computing to disrupt the

current FX market ecosystem

Matt Barrett outlines why the

structure of FX markets is uniquely

suited for cloud services.

NETWORKS, HOSTING

& CONNECTIVITY

52. Overcoming latency issues: A

case study involving Indonesian

brokers

Cristian Vlasceanu highlights the

importance of optimized hosting

and connectivity for brokers.

EXPERT OPINION

54. Modern traders are tech-savvy,

confident, and independent

Robert Cioffi explains why financial

services providers underestimate

the current generation of traders

at their peril.

PAYMENTS

56. Reimagining business spend

operations for Alternative

Investment firms

Steven Petersen outlines a unified,

automated approach to expense

allocation, vendor management,

payment execution and

compliance.

COMPANIES IN THIS ISSUE

A

Adaptive

B

Bloomberg

BME

C

Centroid Solutions

Citi

CLS Group

CME Group

Cobalt FX

p52

p29

p6

p57

IFC

p54

p10

p6

D

26 Degrees Global Markets p11

Devexperts

Digital Vega

DIGITEC

p8

p45

p15

E

24 Exchange p6

Equiti

p33

F

Finalto

Finery Markets

First Abu Dhabi Bank

Fusion Digital Assets

FXSpotStream

p51

p8

p26

p8

IBC

I

Integral

IPC

ION Markets

L

LMAX

LSEG

M

MAS Digital

O

oneZero

optAxe

p6

OBC

p54

p14

p21

p8

p49

p45

P

PLUGIT

S

Saxo

SGX FX

Siege FX

smartTrade Technologies

Societe Generale

Stavtar

StoneX

Swissquote Bank

T

360T

Z

Zodia Markets

p9

p5

p19

p22

p17

p12

p56

p47

p7

p13

p8


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the services of major investment bank prime brokers, to large clients who

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Banco Base selects Integral’s FX technology

Integral has announced that Mexican

bank Banco Base has adopted its FX

technology to elevate its derivatives

operations and remain one step

ahead of competitors. Banco Base,

focused on international transfers

and specialized financing products to

grow the international businesses of

companies involved in foreign trade

has selected Integral’s price engine

and liquidity aggregation solutions.

The move will enhance the bank’s FX

derivatives capabilities, allowing it to

price FX swaps far more efficiently

for its customers. Harpal Sandhu,

Harpal Sandhu

CEO of Integral, said: “By offering

highly configurable and scalable

solutions across FX workflows,

Integral is providing banks across

the world with the tools to upgrade

their operations, provide a best-inclass

client experience, and maintain

their strategic advantage over the

competition. This partnership will see

Banco Base deliver clients unrivalled

speed in derivatives pricing and

execution, setting a new standard for

financial providers in the region.”

NEWS

24 Exchange launches live swaps trading

24 Exchange has officially gone live liquidity. Traditionally, credit limitations

with FX swaps trading, leveraging and operational inefficiencies have

CobaltFX’s innovative Dynamic Credit

process. This integration marks a

significant step forward in optimising

credit intermediation, reducing

operational risk, and enhancing

liquidity efficiency for market

participants. The Dynamic Credit

process allows counterparties to preset

credit relationships and dynamically

allocate available credit based on realtime

trading conditions. Integrating

Dynamic Credit into 24 Exchange

Jason Woerz

benefits both maker and taker of

hindered the FX swaps market. With

CobaltFX’s technology, credit exposure

is managed dynamically, meaning

traders can seamlessly access deeper

liquidity pools and execute larger

trades with reduced counterparty risk.

Jason Woerz, President of 24 Exchange,

commented, “We are thrilled to be

live with FX swaps trading and to

offer our clients a more efficient,

cost-effective trading environment.

The collaboration with CobaltFX allows

us to redefine how credit is managed

in the FX market, giving participants

unprecedented access to liquidity.”

BME launches PvP FX Settlement system

BME has obtained approval from

the Bank of Spain to implement an

innovative system for settling foreign

exchange transactions in a payment

versus payment (FXS) mode. This new

system offers numerous advantages

over bilateral settlement and is designed

to improve efficiency and reduce the

risks associated with foreign exchange

transactions.The FXS system will be

available to any financial institution in

the European Union and Switzerland.

“We are very pleased to announce this

new system, which stems from our

José Manuel Ortiz

constant commitment to listening to

our clients and addressing their needs.

We are convinced that our neutral

position as an operator of financial

markets and the robustness of our

technical infrastructure will allow us

to offer a high-quality and highly

available system to participants. The

implementation of the FXS system

represents an important step towards

greater efficiency and security in foreign

exchange transactions in Europe,”

explains José Manuel Ortiz, Head

Securities Services at BME.


LIQUIDITY

SOLUTIONS

THAT OPEN

NEW

HORIZONS

swissquote.com/institutional


DXtrade integrates with amana

Devexperts has announced a

partnership between its flagship

SaaS trading platform, DXtrade, and

amana, the Dubai-based neobroker

and liquidity provider. Through the

partnership, brokers licensing DXtrade

will be able to offer traders better

access to global markets, via amana’s

robust liquidity solutions. DXtrade

and amana will work together to

offer brokers a streamlined trading

execution capabilities, ensuring that

traders benefit from faster and more

efficient transactions whilst allowing

them to access a wide range of

markets with greater ease. Jon Light,

Head of OTC Platform at Devexperts,

says: “We are always looking for

ways to make DXtrade an even better

solution for brokers, whether this be

through maintaining and updating our

software or through the partnerships

we form. We are pleased to be

partnering with amana and believe

that through this collaboration we

will be able to better cater to our

customers, particularly those based in

the MENA region.”

Jon Light

MAS Digital partners with Fusion Digital Assets

NEWS

MAS Digital has announced a

strategic partnership with TP ICAP’s

Fusion Digital Assets, an FCAregistered

wholesale marketplace

for digital assets. This collaboration

will enable MAS Digital’s clients to

execute trades seamlessly through

its advanced trading GUI and

institutional-grade infrastructure

while benefiting from the deep

liquidity and efficient marketplace

provided by Fusion Digital Assets.

By integrating with Fusion Digital

Assets, MAS Digital reaffirms its

commitment to delivering secure,

reliable, and scalable access to

the growing digital asset market.

This partnership aligns with MAS

Rob Brown

Digital’s mission to drive institutional

adoption of digital assets. Rob Brown,

Head of Strategic Development

at MAS Group, commented: “We

are excited to partner with Fusion

Digital Assets and provide our clients

with access to a well-established

exchange. This represents another

significant milestone in the evolution

of institutional digital asset trading,

combining MAS Digital’s robust

technology with TP ICAP’s trusted

infrastructure to provide greater

market access, transparency, and

efficiency.”

Zodia Markets partners with Finery Markets

Zodia Markets has partnered with

Finery Markets to make it even easier

for institutions to access digital asset

and fiat liquidity. As the institutionfirst

digital asset broker backed by

Standard Chartered Bank, Zodia

Markets offers access to a broad range

of FX pairs at competitive pricing,

with same-day (T+0) settlement

capabilities - providing a compelling

proposition for Finery Markets’ clients

seeking speed and cost-effectiveness.

Mark Richardson, Chief Commercial

Officer, Zodia Markets, comments, “By

joining the Finery ecosystem, we’re

removing the operational and technical

barriers that have historically slowed

institutional adoption. We’re making it

significantly easier for a wider network

of market participants to access our

liquidity - securely, efficiently and

at scale. This partnership isn’t just

about reach, it’s about purposeful

access to digital assets that meets the

standards of traditional finance and

represents a significant step forward in

aligning digital asset trading with the

expectations of institutional finance.”

Mark Richardson



CME Group’s FX Spot+ goes live

FX Spot+, CME Group’s next-generation, all-to-all spot FX marketplace,

is now available for trading.

FX Spot+ is a new spot central limit

order book that seamlessly connects

OTC traders to futures liquidity and

the futures client ecosystem helping

to bring the two markets together. A

number of firms active in FX cannot

natively interact with FX futures liquidity

or the customer ecosystem because

they don’t have clearing or futures

market relationships. This means some

market participants can’t interact with

“CME Group’s FX futures trade material

volumes across all of the G7 currency

pairs as well as in Mexican peso, so

allowing Spot traders access to that

liquidity via FX Spot+ has the potential

to have a huge impact on FX market

structure.” said Paul Houston, Global

Head of FX, CME Group.

Resting liquidity in FX futures and

the FX Link spot-futures spread will

combine to represent standalone

resting spot interest in FX Spot+. The

result will be futures liquidity with the

forward points removed, allowing spot

participants access to new liquidity. In

addition, resting orders in FX Spot+

will combine with FX Link to represent

resting liquidity in FX futures, increasing

passive matching opportunities for spot

participants previously not possible.

PRODUCT LAUNCH

HOW FX SPOT+ WORKS

FX Spot+ is a firm, all-to-all spot FX central limit order book (CLOB)

located in CME Group’s Chicago matching engine, with implied technology

enabled to connect the OTC spot and FX futures marketplaces. A central

counterparty will directly (or indirectly via FX prime brokers) provide credit

to trade on FX Spot+. The implied technology enabled through FX Link will

represent FX futures liquidity in spot form and vice versa.

• Implied out: Resting FX futures and FX Link orders will be combined to

represent resting FX Spot+ orders in notional terms

• Implied out: Resting FX Spot+ and FX Link orders will be combined to

represent resting FX futures orders in contract terms

Paul Houston

both FX futures and primary venues.

To solve this, CME Group has launched

FX Spot+, which translates futures

liquidity into spot terms, expanding

liquidity access to OTC traders, without

the need to establish futures market

relationships, or manage the forward

risk inherent in futures contracts.

FX Spot+ leverages implied matching

technology and basis spread of FX

Link to atomically link the FX futures

and OTC spot FX markets, providing

enhanced liquidity and trading

opportunities for FX futures and OTC

spot FX traders alike.

• Implied in: Resting orders in FX futures and FX Spot+ will be combined

to represent resting orders in FX Link in contract terms

All currency pairs will be quoted and matched in OTC convention and in

notional units. Contracts are translated by the CME Globex matching engine

from contract to notional terms and vice versa. Native orders have priority

over implied orders on

the FX Spot+ CLOB. Any

residual quantity following

matches that is less than the

minimum order size will be

automatically canceled by

the engine. Details such as

supported currency pairs,

minimum price increments,

and minimum and maximum

trade sizes can be found on

the FX Spot+ webpage.

FX Spot+ uses Globex implication technology


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Electronic FX Swaps:

Accelerating the pace of

change across the market

By Paul Golden

MARKET COMMENTARY

Image by Shutterstock


MARKET COMMENTARY

Addressing challenges around liquidity remains one of the key

considerations for electronic FX swaps market participants as

the market continues to evolve.

making institutions to provide

continuous pricing electronically.”

Nicholas expects electronic platforms

to become even more central to

market structure, providing pools

of liquidity from a wide range of

market participants. With automation,

transaction costs should decrease,

making it more cost-effective for

participants to trade FX swaps.

Paul Golden

In the FX Swaps market there

is increasing demand for more

currency pairs and longer dated

tenors to be quoted. This is being

driven by various factors, including

clients using swaps to hedge over

longer periods to provide more

certainty, improved access to liquidity

and greater execution flexibility,

institutional investors using swaps

as part of their broader portfolio

management and companies

being exposed to a wider range of

currencies.

Greater electronic trading of FX

swaps will contribute to a number

of significant changes to market

structure according to Robin

Nicholas, head of swaps product at

360T.

“We should see continued

advancement in data, liquidity, cost

reduction and credit facilitation

and automation,” he says. “More

transparent market data should

lead to better price discovery and

increased market transparency which

should also make it easier for market

TRADERS FACING FAMILIAR

CHALLENGES

However, Marco Kuper, CPO at

DIGITEC, reckons FX swap trading is

facing similar challenges to the spot

market in that the further growth of

electronic channels will produce more

fragmentation of liquidity.

“Accurately measuring and visualising

available liquidity will become more

challenging as the same liquidity might

be reflected across different venues,”

he says. “It will become an increasingly

complex task to get an accurate

picture of the market in real time.

In turn, dealers will have to decide

where to provide liquidity and how

to differentiate their offering across

different channels.”

Kuper notes that for the tools within

the workflow, the challenge will be

to identify significant market events

and decide which ones to react to.

It is now the norm for clients to

analyse quote quality - either directly

or via trading venues – so speed and

accuracy are essential for banks to

maintain their share of client business.

Buy-side firms such as asset managers,

corporates and asset owners are

increasingly seeking to trade FX swaps

in multiple currencies and longer


Electronic FX Swaps: Accelerating the pace of change across the market

“We are starting to see demand on pure algo execution for

clients but it is very early days. The limiting factor is very thin

dealer-to-dealer liquidity in terms of currency pairs, tenors and

venues.”

they may be used for swaps execution

because the latency requirement for

proper pricing is less intense than for

spot or equities trading.

MARKET COMMENTARY

Loic Bourgeois-Ducournau

tenors to hedge and better manage FX

exposure across global markets. These

are typically rolled monthly or quarterly

using FX forwards or swaps, which go

well beyond just overnight or tom-next

tenors.

Meanwhile Jay Moore, global head of

new and derivative products at LMAX

Exchange observes that swaps remain

predominantly OTC, much of which is

Robin Nicholas

still voice or IB chat, with buy-side firms

depending on banks for both credit

and liquidity via ISDA agreements.

“This limits access to pricing across

the broader market,” he says. “A shift

is underway to separate credit from

liquidity, very much mirroring prime

brokerage in hedge funds, allowing

banks to sponsor client credit into

new liquidity sources like peer-topeer

venues and specialist liquidity

providers. This expands access to

pricing, reduces market impact and

gives banks a way to monetise unused

balance sheet capacity.”

Loic Bourgeois-Ducournau, head of

EMEA eFIC sales at Societe Generale

observes that clients have always

traded many tenors, be that for

liquidity management, carry, rate

views or arbitrage. What might have

changed, he suggests, is the hedge

horizon and the fact that experienced

clients are really looking into cost of

execution (using TCA) and want to

optimise their hedging.

“We can clearly see a tightening of

spreads,” he says. “Electronic channels

encourage fierce competition between

banks and there has been growth in

peer-to-peer venues.”

SAAS, CLOUD AS BUILDING

BLOCKS

Bourgeois-Ducournau refers to

SaaS and the cloud as tools for

technologists to help build solutions

for the finance community, noting

“More transparent market data should lead to better price

discovery and increased market transparency which should

also make it easier for market making institutions to provide

continuous pricing electronically.”

“This could lead to fragmentation of

the offer with different platforms fed

by a few players,” he warns. “The real

difficulty for swaps trading automation

lies in the capacity to manage delivery

risk in quasi real-time.”

This requires heavy duty computing

and in general redesign of antiquated

systems. For instance, dealer-to-dealer

initiatives have progressed very slowly

because of banks’ difficulties exposing

an efficient credit check mechanism.

Moore explains that platforms

using SaaS and cloud technology

enable rapid innovation and the

introduction of new models like credit

intermediation and tools such as realtime

TCA - delivering better execution

and more efficient access to liquidity,

especially for smaller players who can

compete on price and liquidity rather

than relying on the ISDA and credit

approval process to dictate with whom

they can trade.

“A host of factors, including

regulatory pressures, internal resource

constraints, balance sheet efficiency

and the need for greater transparency

are driving interdealer FX swap trading

toward electronic platforms,” he says.

“Electronification improves price

discovery, streamlines workflows and

reduces operational risk.”

SaaS has made state-of-the-art FX

swaps technology more accessible.

In-depth expertise and efficient

monitoring allow smaller teams to

participate in the swaps and NDF

market and remain competitive in

terms of pricing.

“For software vendors, SaaS offers

the possibility of working more closely


The Global Standard

FX Swaps and Forwards Pricing

NDF Pricing

Data

More than 50% of the Top 50 FX firms

use DIGITEC, the company behind the

world-leading multi-asset pricing engine D3.

DIGITEC also developed the award-winning Swaps

Data Feed (SDF) and Precious Metals Data

Feed (PMF), in partnership with 360T.

Delivering enhanced market data,

workflow automation and pricing

digitec.de


MARKET COMMENTARY


“Accurately measuring and visualising available liquidity will

become more challenging as the same liquidity might be

reflected across different venues.”

Marco Kuper

with clients and incorporating their

feedback,” observes Niels Joost,

quant and software engineer at

DIGITEC. “It enables a faster cycle of

innovation, with rapid iteration based

on continuous user feedback and the

emerging needs of the market.”

BARRIERS TO MARKET ENTRY

DIGITEC has observed a general

willingness to participate in the

different emerging interdealer

electronic venues but also

technological and operational barriers

for entry, as for most market makers

the liquidity available on these

platforms has not been large enough

to warrant any significant investment

in the technology and workflows

needed to actively participate.

“We now see innovative solutions to

allow participants of different sizes

to participate in these marketplaces,”

says Kuper. “As an example, when

we built our D3 OMS service, banks

demanded nuanced order placement

- meaning that when a trader’s curve

moved their prices would be updated

automatically.”

Powerful analytics and risk

management tools that were once

only available to larger institutions

have become more widely available

and accessible, allowing smaller

banks to better manage their FX

swap positions, monitor market

conditions in real-time and make

more informed trading decisions,

observes Nicholas.

“New algos will appear, for example

through our collaboration with

Quantitative Brokers, which will offer

the opportunity to access previously

internalised liquidity or perhaps

executions pegged to a market

benchmark rate,” he says.

The migration of interdealer FX swap

trading to electronic venues is driven

by improvements in liquidity, execution

speed, operational efficiency, pricing

transparency, cost-effectiveness and

automated credit.

“Technological advances, regulatory

pressures and the growing use of

algorithmic trading are all contributing

to this shift,” adds Nicholas. “However,

the biggest influence has been the

advancement in credit management

tools.”

RISK RECYCLING EVOLVES

Factors influencing interdealer FX

swap trading and encouraging further

migration to electronic venues include

more efficient workflow, cost saving,

longer hours availability and better

service to clients. As banks move more

into electronification, it makes sense

that the recycling of risk follows - be

it through introduction of more algo

trading or dealer-to-dealer venues.

“Ebook becomes more mature and

extends its scope through longer

maturities, larger sizes and additional

currency pairs,” says Bourgeois-

Ducournau. “Most of the flows are still

hedged in the broker market. We are

starting to see demand on pure algo

execution for clients but it is very early

days. The limiting factor is very thin

dealer-to-dealer liquidity in terms of

currency pairs, tenors and venues.”

Buy-side firms such as asset managers, corporates and asset owners are increasingly seeking to trade FX swaps in

multiple currencies and longer tenors

He notes that most banks will have

very similar curves and will seek to

gain advantage by having the quickest

platforms and introducing AI to

provide the most accurate and timely

pricing, for example using chat venues


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“A shift is underway to separate credit from liquidity, very

much mirroring prime brokerage in hedge funds, allowing

banks to sponsor client credit into new liquidity sources like

P2P venues and specialist LPs.”

clients’ specific hedging needs and

exposure profiles. Some banks plan to

optimise liquidity by aggregating data

from multiple liquidity sources.

Nicholas notes that reducing the

access to independent third party swaps

number of platform interfaces on a

data sources and cross market trades

trader’s desk by consolidating and

data reinforce and validate the curves,

aggregating liquidity allows banks to

reducing inconsistencies.”

execute trades optimally, while also

reducing the market surveillance and

Joost explains that data is only

governance overheads of multiple

effective if the underlying components

venues

of the workflow can effectively

consume and interpret it.

“With more automation, real-time

data feeds will be integrated into risk

“For a long time, there was more data

management platforms, enabling

MARKET COMMENTARY

Jay Moore

from brokers to update the curve.

Moore suggests that data is central to the

evolution of FX swaps. “Today, pricing

varies due to inconsistent curve-building

practices and opaque inputs. Traders

rely on a few counterparties for pricing

benchmarks, limiting transparency.

Access to deep, independent pricing data

improves confidence in execution quality

and leads to better outcomes for end

clients.”

Broader, more reliable data inputs create

consistency in curve-building, leading

to more accurate and sophisticated

pricing models, he adds. “Additionally,

available than could be handled by

the pricing engines,” he says. “But

pricing engines are catching up, which

indicates that the market is ready

for richer data to be made available.

This allows data providers and

pricing engines to tackle issues such

as smarter ways to handle sudden

volatility, accuracy of pricing in times

of market uncertainty or creating

feedback loops by incorporating

trade performance data back into the

pricing models.”

DATA AGGREGATION

OPTIMISING LIQUIDITY

Liquidity providers are using data

to offer more personalised services,

tailoring FX swap solutions based on

institutions to monitor and manage

exposure continuously,” he adds. “We

should also see more machine learning

and AI as the electronic FX swap

segment matures.”

As for the outlook for the NDF swaps

market, Joost refers to a growing

push among clients to expand their

electronic offerings.

“While key tenors such as the 1M

forward have been liquid for some

time, there is now greater demand

for pricing across the entire curve,” he

says. “However, reliable and accurate

data beyond the 1M tenor remains

limited. Tools like our SDF can help

bridge this gap and the increased

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“While key tenors such as the 1M forward have been liquid

for some time, there is now greater demand for pricing across

the entire curve. However, reliable and accurate data beyond

the 1M tenor remains limited.”

Niels Joost

adoption of electronic trading

channels suggests that more robust

data sources may soon be available.”

As NDFs migrate to electronic

channels, data quality is expected

to improve further and make these

markets more transparent.

While traders will continue to hold

a pivotal role, they will increasingly

configure systems to react automatically

in line with their strategies. At the same

time, AI is poised to become an integral

part of trading workflows, though its

adoption will be guided by regulatory

and compliance considerations.

“The real challenge for nextgeneration

trading tools will be

striking the right balance, enabling

high level oversight while still offering

swift, detailed insights for human

investigation and intervention where

needed,” says Kuper.

POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR NDFS

Nicholas describes the outlook for NDF

volumes as positive with factors such

as offshore currency restrictions/capital

controls and wider macroeconomic

developments making them a critical

hedging tool.

“Just over a quarter of the NDF market

is currently cleared, but reducing

counterparty risk could well encourage

other market participants and lead to even

greater growth in this market,” he adds.

Central limit order book growth will

drive the development of FX swaps

trading for the interdealer segment

on the back of venues that are built

specifically for interdealer trading as

well as credit automation and more

sophisticated bank pricing engines.

“Similar to the evolution of spot,

on-venue visible bids and offers will

improve price transparency and the

ability for members of the 360T SUN

platform to exchange risk in a dark

pool - at an independent mid-price -

should ensure better pricing, improve

liquidity and provide a more efficient

marketplace,” says Nicholas.

“This liquidity may become

fragmented but I don’t expect to

see the proliferation of venues that

we see in spot,” he adds. “Market

utilities will emerge, providing credit

management workflows, connectivity

and outsourced pricing engines and

liquidity aggregators. Whether we see

a true all-to-all blend of client and

dealer FX swap liquidity though is an

ongoing debate.”

A growing priority for the market is

to lessen the segregation of liquidity

between sell-side and buy-side.

Historically, sell-side firms have

enjoyed the benefits of the interbank

markets to easily transfer risk amongst

themselves as a source to inexpensively

hedge out of client (buy-side) risk

while the buy-side have relied on the

limited number of banks where they

have ISDAs and credit lines available

to trade.

Powerful analytics and risk management tools that were once only available to larger institutions have become more

widely available and accessible

“For the first time, with the

introduction of credit intermediation,

buy-side firms can now have

sponsorship into all-to-all pools of

liquidity where they can level the

playing field and more directly find

naturally offsetting liquidity on

similar pricing terms to interbank


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Siege FX: Moving risk

without moving markets

With Mathijs Peeters, Head of Distribution, Europe at Siege FX

to their ability to provide a source of

in Emerging Market FX result in an

liquidity and value without the market

even more challenging environment

impact associated with traditional

for traders. Deliverable currencies like

‘lit’ markets. The Siege MidPool, with

PLN, CZK, HUF, ZAR and MXN are

match rates exceeding 30%, has

often difficult to trade in the lit market

proven to be a valuable tool for both

where any activity is quickly spotted

Buy-side and Sell-side traders.

by others to the trader’s cost. Spreads

PROVIDER VIEWPOINT

Mathijs Peeters

In the ever-evolving world of foreign

exchange (FX) trading, the ability

to navigate liquidity challenges and

optimize execution is paramount.

The Siege FX platform has gained

prominence in the FX trading

landscape, particularly in the realms

of Scandinavian currency pairs and

Emerging Market FX, where liquidity

is scarce, and spreads are wide.

This article delves into the factors

contributing to the platform’s success

and the unique advantages it offers to

traders in these challenging markets.

SCANDINAVIAN CURRENCY

PAIRS: NAVIGATING LIQUIDITY

CHALLENGES

Scandinavian currencies: Swedish

Krona (SEK), Norwegian Krone (NOK),

and Danish Krone (DKK), are more

challenging and expensive to trade

due to their relatively lower liquidity

and wider spreads compared to

major markets. “Scandi” traders are

already used to taking more time

to manage market impact and that

behaviour readily translates into

success in the Siege MidPool. We

see participants rest Scandi orders

for several minutes to achieve match

rates in the 50 to 100% range;

each clip traded at a floating mid

without information leakage. Several

factors underpin Siege’s status as

a trusted environment for traders.

themselves are less stable, especially

outside of local market hours, which

again makes the Siege MidPool an

attractive proposition for moving risk

without moving markets.

THE ROLE OF TRANSACTION

COST ANALYSIS (TCA) AND

EXECUTION ANALYTICS

The growing use of Transaction Cost

Analysis (TCA) and execution analytics

in FX trading has played a crucial role

in driving interest in dark pools like the

Siege MidPool. TCA allows Buy-side

traders to compare outcomes from

different liquidity and algo providers,

taking into account total costs,

including market impact. This has

led to a greater appreciation of the

benefits of trading over time and the

value dark mid-matching can deliver to

boost those savings.

THE RISE OF DARK POOLS IN FX

TRADING

One of the key themes, highlighted in

our FXAlgoNews August 2024 article

(https://fxalgonews.com/exploring-

the-benefits-of-all-to-all-dark-

midmatching-in-algo-fx-execution/)

was the growing significance of dark

pools in algorithmic FX execution. Dark

pools, such as the Siege MidPool, have

become increasingly meaningful due

Anti-polling measures reinforce the

desired behaviour that participants

come to move risk quietly and

the central counterparty model,

provides anonymity. Then the use of

independent FCA-regulated midrates

from New Change FX ensures

transparency and fairness in pricing.

EMERGING MARKET FX:

OVERCOMING WIDER SPREADS

Even lower liquidity and wider spreads

The Siege FX platform conducts its

own mark-out analysis against NCFX

mid-rates, demonstrating that MidPool

order submission does not result in

information leakage and thus market

impact. This transparency and datadriven

approach has been key to

building trust and encouraging greater

participation in the platform. As more

traders recognise the advantages of

dark mid-matching, the Siege MidPool


PROVIDER VIEWPOINT

help them complete orders without

manual intervention. We are therefore

now able to offer order routing to a

“Low Impact Pool” of internalising

liquidity providers through our

existing MidPool workflow. This can

be configured on a regular MidPool

Market or Limit order as a backstop

that triggers on a defined residual

order balance or as a more structured

execution through the FulFill order

type. Responding to this demand has

led us to form new partnerships to

continue to deliver high execution

quality with increased convenience.

Scandinavian currencies are more challenging and expensive to trade due to their relatively lower liquidity and wider

spreads compared to major markets

continues to gain momentum and

attract ever more liquidity.

BUILDING STRONG

PARTNERSHIPS AND

ECOSYSTEM INTEGRATION

The success of the Siege FX platform

can also be attributed to its strong

partnerships with both Buy-side and

Sell-side participants. The platform’s

targeted approach to engaging Sellside

algo providers has resulted in

robust partnerships with banks, which

in turn has facilitated greater access

to liquidity for Buy-side traders. Algo

strategies package a workflow solution

with execution flexibility and so offer

a great entry point to Siege MidPool

liquidity.

Ease of connectivity and workflow

integration have also been critical

factors in the platform’s success.

By providing seamless integration

with existing trading systems and

workflows, the Siege FX platform has

made it easier for traders to access the

MidPool.

Some participants, understanding that

larger MidPool orders may not match

100%, asked us to look at ways to

FUTURE GROWTH PROSPECTS

AND OPPORTUNITIES

The MidPool’s success has been proven

through challenging market conditions

to deliver value to traders. Looking

ahead, we are still excited by the

growth prospects for the platform in

deliverable Spot and Precious Metals.

Next our experience in EM FX suggests

that there is potential to extend the

MidPool to Non-Deliverable Forwards

(NDFs) and we are also working on

something new for FX Swaps trading.

Ongoing conversations with partners

also suggest that this could open

up new services to help participants

reduce the growing costs of trading

across portfolios and holding positions

on balance sheet with counterparties.

The success of the Siege FX platform can also be attributed to its strong partnerships with both Buy-side and Sellside

participants

CONCLUSION

The Siege FX platform has emerged

as a new bright star in the FX market

structure, with notable success in the

challenging domains of Scandinavian

currency pairs and Emerging Market

FX. By leveraging the power of

dark pools and innovative in-house

technology, the platform has delivered

FX traders the ability to move

risk without moving markets. The

platform’s growth and new services

will keep it at the forefront of the

FX trading industry, providing value

and success to its participants and

partners.


Beyond Oil:

How economic

diversification is fuelling

the Middle East’s e-FX

revolution

REGIONAL E-FX PERSPECTIVE

By Vivek Shankar




Vivek Shankar

The Middle East has historically

offered massive growth opportunities

interspersed with periods of

significant instability. Given the

region’s vast geography, identifying

common trends across each economy

is a challenging task.

However, FX services have witnessed

steady growth in the region, thanks to

the region’s desire to shift away from

oil and rising economic opportunity.

Mohammad Isbeer, Chief Institutional

Officer, Equiti Group, lists a few

factors when asked about the region,

specifically the Gulf Cooperation

Council (GCC) countries’ growth.

“The region is booming because of

strong economies, government support

for financial markets, and growing

investor demand for new asset classes

like gold, crypto, and FX,” he says.

“With a young, tech-savvy population

and a rise in institutional players, the

Middle East is now a key destination for

global capital.”

Regulation has been a key driver of this

boom, giving birth to new economic

opportunities and investor interest.

Here’s how these factors are coming

together to make the Middle East an FX

hotspot.

ECONOMIC STRENGTH AND

REGULATORY EVOLUTION

The Middle East’s emergence as a

currency trading powerhouse is built

on several interconnected economic

foundations that extend well beyond oil

wealth.

The region benefits from a unique

combination of geographic advantages


Beyond Oil: How economic diversification is fuelling the Middle East’s e-FX revolution

“Straddling European and Asian trading hours has the

advantage of being able to tap into the deep liquidity of both

regions.”

Golden Visas have all played important

roles. Barrett emphasizes that the

“vision to diversify and invest in non-oil

sectors of the economy is the overriding

factor in recent years,” with Abu

Dhabi’s reputation as the “Capital of

Capital” providing access to significant

investment resources.

estate, fintech, and capital markets.

These initiatives have not only attracted

international capital but also fostered

cross-border business flows that drive

demand for currency trading and

hedging.

As Paul Hopkinson, FXGO Product

Manager at Bloomberg notes, this has

led to “a marked increase in FX trading

volumes, the number of participants,

and the use of electronic platforms to

manage risk.”


Brian Barrett

and financial stability. Situated at the

crossroads of Asia, Europe, and Africa,

Middle Eastern financial centers access

overlapping trading hours across global

markets, making them natural hubs for

currency trading.

This strategic position, paired with

strong sovereign balance sheets and

actively deployed capital from sovereign

wealth funds, has created robust

demand for sophisticated FX solutions.

According to Brian Barrett, Managing

Director, Head of eTrading, Global

Markets, First Abu Dhabi Bank, stable

economies, large expatriate populations,

and forward-thinking policies like

This economic diversification strategy

has fundamentally changed the region’s

relationship with currency markets. By

reducing dependency on oil, which is

predominantly traded in USD, GCC

economies have naturally increased

flows in other currencies.

As Barrett explains, “The growth in

non-oil sectors such as finance, tech,

and tourism has been outpacing oilbased

growth over the past few years,”

creating more diverse currency needs.

Infrastructure developments like the

UAE’s 5.6GW Barakah nuclear power

plant, which now provides 25% of

the country’s electricity, exemplify this

commitment to diversification.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have

been particularly aggressive in this

transformation, investing heavily in

non-oil sectors including tourism, real

Regulatory reforms have been equally

instrumental in attracting global

investors to the region’s FX markets.

The UAE’s Federal Decree-Law No. 26

of 2020, which allowed up to 100%

foreign ownership in most sectors, has

been particularly transformative.

Barrett describes it as “pivotal in not

only accelerating FDI but also increasing

competitiveness and enhanced

economic diversification,” with many

new entrants in finance and tech

bringing sophisticated demands for FX

products.

The regulatory evolution extends beyond

traditional finance into emerging asset

classes. Isbeer highlights that “interest in

crypto is also rising fast, with both retail

and institutional investors looking for

regulated ways to trade digital assets.”

This trend is supported by new crypto

trading licenses issued in Dubai, Abu

Dhabi, and Bahrain, positioning the

region as “a major hub for blockchain

innovation and investment” alongside its

growing traditional FX market.

By reducing dependency on oil, which is predominantly traded in USD, GCC economies have naturally increased flows in

other currencies

These combined economic and

regulatory factors have created a selfreinforcing

cycle of growth in Middle

Eastern FX markets, where diversification

creates new currency needs, which

attracts more participants, leading

to further market development and

sophistication.





“More private investors and hedge funds are establishing a

presence in the region, attracted by its growing status as a

financial hub.”

Paul Hopkinson

STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES:

GEOGRAPHY, INVESTORS, AND

ISLAMIC FINANCE

While electronic trading is growing

rapidly, the transition from traditional

methods varies across the region. “In

the MENA FX markets, both voice and

electronic trading continue to play

important roles, each serving different

types of transactions,” observes

Anna Senina, Market Development

manager at LSEG. “Electronic trading

has seen significant adoption in more

developed markets like the UAE, Qatar,

Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, where digital

transformation is advancing steadily.

However, the pace of adoption varies

across the region, with some markets still

in the early stages of electronification.”

She notes that “voice trading continues

to be relevant—especially for large,

complex, or customized transactions that

require negotiation and a more bespoke

approach,” though “as infrastructure

improves and credit dynamics evolve, the

shift toward electronic trading is expected

to continue.”

“The MENA region’s location offers

a unique advantage: it sits at the

intersection of global time zones. With

partial overlap across Asia-Pacific, Europe,

and the early hours of North America,

the region allows for continuous market

engagement and timely access to global

liquidity,” explains Hopkinson.

This offers the region a range of

practical benefits, as Barrett elaborates.

“Straddling European and Asian trading

hours has the advantage of being able

to tap into the deep liquidity of both

regions. A notable example of this is the

improvement in GBP liquidity pre-London

open or the increase in CNH flows.”

This geographic advantage has

been combined with infrastructure

development to transform the UAE

into a financial center. “Our airports

are major hubs, Jebel Ali is one of the

world’s largest ports, and so it’s a logical

next step for the UAE to become one

of the primary financial hubs,” Barrett

continues. “The rapid expansion of

ADGM, DIFC and the significant influx of

hedge funds over the past 12-18 months

is testament to this.”

Private investor participation in FX

markets has also surged across the

Middle East, creating a more diverse

trading ecosystem, Hopkinson explains.

“Private investor awareness in FX has

grown rapidly, driven by greater digital

access and an increasingly sophisticated

investor base. More private investors and

hedge funds are establishing a presence

in the region, attracted by its growing

status as a financial hub.”

Technology has played a crucial role in

this retail growth. “People in the Middle

East are becoming more aware of FX

trading, and they now have access to

easy-to-use apps, AI-powered tools, and

social trading platforms. This makes it

simpler for everyday investors to start

trading,” says Isbeer.

The integration of Islamic finance

principles into trading products has

further expanded market participation.

“The rise in Sukuk (Islamic bonds)

and Sharia-compliant instruments, in

particular cross-border Sukuk issuance

has increased the demand for FX from

Islamic financial institutions,” Barrett

explains.

“At FAB we are among the very few

financial institutions who offer several FX

derivative products under the Tahawwut

(Hedging) Master Agreement (TMA), the

Islamic equivalent of the ISDA.”

These adaptations have opened the

market to previously underserved

investors. “The introduction and

expansion of Sharia-compliant FX

products has helped unlock new

segments of the market, particularly

among investors who seek to align their

trading activity with Islamic finance

principles,” notes Hopkinson, adding that

platforms like Bloomberg FXGO have

supported Islamic Deposits for several

years.

Isbeer points to specific products meeting

this demand: “Islamic finance-friendly FX

options like Equiti’s Swap-Free accounts,

allow investors to trade without interest

fees, following religious principles. This

has opened up trading to more people

who want ethical and transparent

investment choices.”

TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION:

PLATFORMS, INFRASTRUCTURE,

AND ACCESS

As the Middle East establishes its strategic

advantages in the global FX ecosystem,

technology has emerged as the critical

enabler transforming these opportunities

into practical market growth. Regional

and international providers are

developing specialized platforms,

infrastructure, and access solutions

tailored to this unique market.


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“Electronic trading has seen significant adoption in more

developed markets like the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi

Arabia, where digital transformation is advancing steadily.”

Anna Senina

Leading financial institutions across

the MENA region have prioritized

the development of robust electronic

trading capabilities. “At FAB we have

built a sophisticated e-FX offering

with 24/7 automated pricing and risk

management,” Barrett explains. “We are

connected to every business unit through

a network of internal APIs through which

we provide live executable quotes from

our e-FX pricing engine.” This internal

connectivity extends to external platforms

where the bank offers “spot, forwards,

swaps, NDFs/NDSs and precious metals,”

with development “focused on streaming

over traditional RFQ.”

These advancements aren’t limited

to conventional trading products.

Hopkinson highlights how platforms

are adapting to regional requirements:

“Bloomberg FXGO, for instance, has

long supported electronic trading (RFQs)

for Islamic Deposits and is now adding

Wa’ad structures in response to feedback

from regional banks.”

This customization reflects “a broader

trend of localising electronic trading

infrastructure to offer greater flexibility,

broader instrument support, and

enhanced efficiency.”

For retail-focused providers, user

experience has become a key

differentiator. “Ease-of-use is definitely a

big trend that we’re focused on,” notes

Isbeer. “Our strategy is to offer smarter

platforms with better execution, real-time

data, and AI-powered insights that give

investors an advantage for trading a wide

range of assets in one place.”

The focus on transparency is becoming

increasingly important across the region.

Anna Senina, highlights this trend:

“Buy-side firms are increasingly focused

on achieving greater transparency across

all stages of execution—from trade-level

detail to counterparty analytics and

transaction cost analysis (TCA). Service

providers are responding to these needs

by investing in technology and strategic

partnerships. In the MENA region, we’re

seeing growing adoption of electronic

trading platforms like LSEG FXall, which

offer real-time data and analytics to help

corporates trade more efficiently and

with greater visibility into pricing and

execution quality.”

Access to comprehensive data is central

to this evolution, with Senina noting that

“access to both real-time and historical

market data has become a key part of

this offering.”

The region’s technological transformation

extends beyond trading platforms to

foundational infrastructure. “Government

backed initiatives, regulatory reforms, and

private sector innovation are positioning

the region as a global hub for next-gen

financial services,” says Barrett. He points

to promising innovations like the mBridge

project, which has “demonstrated viable

cross border CBDC payment rails,” and

infrastructure developments such as

Khazna, “a JV between G42 and e&,

building the largest and most powerful

datacentre infrastructure in the region.”

This infrastructure is enabling more

advanced technological integration.

“The Middle East has embraced fintech

as a strategic growth driver,” Hopkinson

explains. “The region has launched

dedicated fintech hubs and introduced

sandboxes to support innovation. This

has accelerated adoption of advanced

technologies such as blockchain, AI,

and automated trading APIs to help

streamline operational processes for

middle and back office.”

Main control room of one of Khazna’s data centers

Isbeer echoes this perspective, noting

that “AI, blockchain, and automation

have been making trading more

accessible. Faster transactions, better

security, and smarter risk management

tools are attracting more traders to the

region.”



These technological advances are

breaking down traditional barriers to

market participation. Barrett highlights

how “the UAE has always been at

the forefront of adopting biometric

technology with groundbreaking

solutions such as the UAE Pass which

has significantly streamlined the

onboarding of customers.”

He emphasizes that “APIs enable direct

connectivity between banks, fintech

platforms, and corporate treasury

systems, allowing real-time FX execution

within digital banking apps. They also

enhance KYC/AML processes making

cross-border FX transactions more

seamless and compliant.”

Specific mechanisms for enhancing

market transparency are gaining

traction in the region. “LSEG FX has

long provided the infrastructure and

tools to promote transparency and best

execution, particularly in frontier and

emerging markets,” Senina explains.

“One important mechanism is the use of

Central Limit Order Books (CLOBs), such

as those offered by LSEG FX Matching.

These platforms centralize price discovery

within the interbank market, acting as

the focal point for trading activity.”

She adds that “transparency is further

enhanced through multi-dealer

platforms like LSEG FXall, which

connects users to a wide network of

liquidity providers. This setup allows

corporates to compare quotes and

spreads across multiple providers in

real time, ensuring access to the most

competitive prices.”

“People in the Middle East are becoming more aware of FX

trading, and they now have access to easy-to-use apps, AIpowered

tools, and social trading platforms.”

increasingly integrating into global

markets. From a technological

standpoint, the necessary infrastructure

and tools are already in place. The key

to achieving true efficiency in user

workflows lies in supporting regionspecific

instruments and workflows.”

The combined effect of these

technological innovations has been

to democratize access to FX markets.

“Digital identity verification, instant

payments, built-in literacy tools and AIbased

customer support are removing

old barriers,” Isbeer points out. “More

people can now trade FX without long

paperwork or complicated processes –

and they’re also needing less capital to

enter the market.”

THE PATH FORWARD FOR

MIDDLE EASTERN E-FX

As technological capabilities continue

to advance across the region, Middle

Eastern financial centers are poised

for a significant evolution in their e-FX

infrastructures and services, setting

the stage for the next phase of market

development.

The region’s financial hubs are

increasingly cementing their global

Mohammad Isbeer

status. “Cities like Dubai and Riyadh

are becoming key financial centers,

attracting global money and investors,”

observes Isbeer.

Hopkinson elaborates on this

transformation: “As regional financial

centres like Dubai, Riyadh, and Abu

Dhabi scale up their global presence,

the infrastructure for e-FX is evolving

in tandem. Progressive regulation is

enabling better price transparency and

real-time market oversight.”

This evolution is expected to manifest in

several tangible ways. Barrett anticipates

structural market changes: “Regional

banks historically have faced their

This push toward digital integration is

particularly effective in the region due

to high smartphone penetration, which

Barrett notes “exceeded 97% in UAE in

2024,” driving a “mobile first approach”

to meet client demand.

From a global perspective, Hopkinson

explains that “the MENA region is

Technology has played a crucial role in the growth of retail Fx across the MENA region



more widespread adoption over

time,” and that “spread compression

will force larger regional banks away

from transactional quote and cover, to

position based risk management and

higher levels of internalisation.”


The Middle East is taking centre-stage in a global financial revolution

clients either on a DVP basis or through currency accounts, buy gold, trade

bi-lateral credit lines which limits their crypto, and access global markets with

client base to financial institutions or ease,” explains Isbeer. “Faster payments

corporates.

and AI-powered financial tools will

continue to make FX trading simpler and

We believe we will very likely see more more accessible.”

CCP and tri-party capabilities emerge

which will open up new client types The demand for specific trading

such as hedge funds or asset managers.” functionalities is also evolving. “While

These developments would significantly competitive pricing remains a top

expand market participation and priority, corporates are increasingly

liquidity.

asking for more advanced trading

features that offer flexibility and

Corporate connectivity is also evolving control,” notes Senina. “Resting

rapidly. “Corporate banking will become orders, options, and fixing orders are

more API driven,” Barrett predicts. “We’re in growing demand, as firms look to

already seeing digital payment providers fine-tune their execution strategies

using embedded finance solutions and better manage risk. There’s also

asking for direct API connectivity into our a noticeable shift toward the use of

e-FX desk.”

algorithmic trading, particularly among

banks operating in the region.”

These changes are unfolding against

the backdrop of broader digital This trend aligns with Barrett’s prediction

banking transformation. “A Digital- about algorithmic execution gaining

First mindset, the rise of neo-banks more widespread adoption over time.

and fintech challengers fosters an

ecosystem where customers expect Hopkinson frames these developments

automated real-time FX conversions,” in terms of broader market efficiency:

says Barrett. The competition is

“Increased flow and liquidity will lead

intensifying, with Barrett noting that to further cross border multi-currency

“new entrants such as Revolut - which settlements and with that demand

recently announced a partnership for efficient real-time and seamless

with Wizz Air will further pressure solutions.”

incumbents to raise their game.”

The competitive landscape for e-FX

This digital acceleration has tangible providers is also expected to evolve

implications for FX market participants. significantly. Barrett predicts that

“The rise of digital banking and fintech “algorithmic execution which is

means investors can manage multi-

commonplace elsewhere will gain

The implications extend to technology

strategy as well, with Barrett

suggesting that “larger regional

banks will commence building more

components in-house to retain IP

and offer bespoke solutions to their

franchise to differentiate themselves

from their peers.”

For investors navigating this evolving

landscape, the experts offer valuable

guidance. Hopkinson emphasizes the

importance of choosing “a technology

provider that supports the instruments

and workflows used, as well as providing

access to the required liquidity.”

Isbeer takes a broader perspective:

“The Middle East is taking centrestage

in a global financial revolution.

Investors should look for regulated

brokers and innovative platforms

that offer diversified investment

opportunities—whether in FX, gold,

crypto, or beyond. The future is digital,

and the region is leading the way.”

As global financial centers increasingly

look toward the Middle East, the region’s

distinctive combination of robust

infrastructure, progressive regulation,

technological adoption, and strategic

location positions it not simply as a

participant in global e-FX markets but

as an emerging leader helping to shape

their future.

For global FX participants—whether

institutional providers, corporations, or

individual investors—the Middle East

now represents not just an additional

market but an essential one, offering

unique opportunities and insights that

will increasingly influence the global e-FX

ecosystem.



THE E-FOREX INTERVIEW

IPC Systems:

Facilitating smarter, faster

and more efficient FX trading

Kurt Adams


THE e-FOREX INTERVIEW

IPC Systems has more than 50 years of experience in delivering award-winning SaaS communication

platforms and ultra-low latency electronic trading connectivity. Due to its sheer size, the FX market

is of strategic importance to the firm so e-Forex caught up with its CEO Kurt Adams to learn more

about the unique value proposition of its offerings within our highly competitive industry.

Kurt, you have more than two

decades of leadership experience

in the fintech sector. How do you

view the current state of financial

infrastructure, and what excites you

about the future of this space?

As someone who witnessed firsthand

the evolution of Wall Street and

the fintech/payments world, I see a

powerful parallel between the current

financial infrastructure and where the

payments industry stood 20 years ago.

Back then, true interoperability and

collaboration were transformative,

and we’re now on the brink of a

similar shift in trading platforms. Just

as payments evolved to break down

barriers and create greater efficiency,

I’m excited about the potential to drive

a similar transformation in trading

technology from my seat at IPC.

IPC is committed to futureproofing

the solutions we provide

for FX trading firms. Our flagship

Connexus Cloud infrastructure,

for instance, isn’t just a tool to

connect firms; it’s a secure, scalable

environment that continues to evolve

to meet the growing demand for

decentralised market access and highperformance

trading. This is critical

as clients increasingly expect speed,

compliance, and intelligence from

their platforms.

The Connexus Unigy platform,

integrating voice trading with AIpowered

transcription and analytics,

is designed not just for today’s

market, but to accommodate future

shifts as trading strategies and client

expectations continue to evolve.

As the FX market becomes more

decentralised, the ability to access

liquidity quickly and efficiently—

without compromising security—is

going to be essential. IPC’s ongoing

investment in evolving our platforms

ensures that we are not just meeting

the current needs of the market, but

anticipating the next wave of client

demands.

IPC’s network connects a huge

number of financial institutions to

liquidity venues, clearing systems,

and counterparties. What is the

nature of that community and how

diverse is it?

Today, we are seeing a convergence

of cloud computing, AI, and nextgeneration

communication tools—

technologies that have the power

to reshape the financial ecosystem.

The opportunity to lead that change,

especially in the area of trading

infrastructure, is incredibly exciting. At

IPC, we’re poised at a unique inflection

point. We’re not just adapting to the

changing landscape—we’re actively

helping to shape it. This is the future

of finance, and the role IPC plays in

this transformation is pivotal.

IPC provides a comprehensive suite

of solutions that are integral to

the operations of FX trading firms.

But beyond that, how do these

solutions evolve to meet future

client needs, especially as the FX

market continues to decentralize?

IPC’s network is one of the most extensive in the financial industry, connecting a vast and

diverse ecosystem of market participants


IPC Systems: facilitating smarter, faster and more efficient FX trading


IPC’s global leadership team combines a breadth of management experience and expertise in financial services and technology.

From left to right: Izzy Dawood - Chief Financial Officer, Alex Baren - Chief Operating and Transformation Officer, Kurt Adams - CEO, Tito Singh – Chief Revenue Officer,

Tim Carmody - EVP Chief Technology Officer, Adam Bozek - Chief Administrative Officer and Meeghan Salcedo, Chief People Officer not pictured here

IPC’s network is one of the most

extensive in the financial industry,

connecting a vast and diverse

ecosystem of market participants. This

includes sell-side and buy-side firms,

investment banks, hedge funds, asset

managers, interdealer brokers, market

makers and trading platforms.

By fostering a highly interconnected

community, IPC enables efficient

trade execution and seamless access

to global liquidity venues. Our

infrastructure supports a mix of

traditional financial institutions and

newer fintech entrants, creating a

dynamic trading environment that

benefits from enhanced market

connectivity. Whether facilitating

direct market access, interbank

trading, or regulatory reporting, IPC’s

ecosystem ensures that financial firms

of all sizes can operate efficiently and

competitively.

In what key ways does IPC’s

global network and co-location

services help to enhance liquidity

access and trading efficiency for

FX trading firms?

The structure of the FX market, with

its decentralised and fragmented

nature, makes liquidity access and

trading efficiency critical priorities

for firms. IPC’s global network is

specifically designed to address

these challenges by reducing latency

and providing direct connectivity

to major liquidity hubs such as

New York, London, Tokyo, and

Singapore. By leveraging proximity

hosting and co-location services,

IPC helps trading firms minimise

the physical distance between

their infrastructure and liquidity

providers, which is essential for

ultra-low latency trading.

Furthermore, IPC’s hybrid

connectivity model integrates private

network solutions with public cloud

capabilities, allowing firms to harness

the benefits of cloud computing

while maintaining deterministic,

high-performance execution.

Additionally, AI-driven analytics

enhance trade execution by

optimising order routing and risk

management. These capabilities

ensure that IPC is a trusted partner

for FX firms looking to enhance

trading efficiency and liquidity

access in an increasingly competitive

market.

The shift to cloud-based services is

accelerating across markets. How

do you see this trend continuing to

reshape the landscape for FX firms

in the years ahead?



Our flagship voice trading solution, OneView Portfolio, was developed to satisfy growing market expectation

for greater integration with, and interoperability between, multiple enterprise and third-party applications and processes.

The demand for cloud computing in

FX trading has been steadily rising,

driven by the need for scalability,

flexibility, and cost efficiency. But

the real transformation is happening

now: as markets decentralise, clients

are demanding faster, smarter, and

more secure access to liquidity and

market data. At IPC, we see this

as an opportunity to go beyond

traditional cloud offerings and lead

in building cloud infrastructures

that integrate seamlessly with AI,

data analytics, and other advanced

technologies.

even more vital, particularly for

firms that need to balance lowlatency

performance with the ability

to leverage cloud-based analytics.

We’re investing heavily to ensure

our clients can operate efficiently

in this new, more dynamic market

environment.

With our hybrid cloud solutions,

we’re not just meeting today’s

needs but are actively preparing

for the evolving demands of the

market. As the FX landscape

continues to decentralise, we

believe cloud adoption will become

OneView unifies everything that needs to be ‘attached’ to a voice trade within a single touch, single view

environment




By fostering a highly interconnected community, IPC enables efficient trade execution and seamless access to global liquidity venues

Millions of voice quotes are

generated every day over IPC’s

communications platform. What

work have you been doing to

drive further innovation in the

voice trading space, for example

by unlocking this market data and

digitising voice communications to

provide valuable insights?

IPC has been a pioneer in the

digitalisation of voice trading, a critical

yet often overlooked component

of FX and other financial markets.

While there has been a proliferation

in electronic trading, voice trading

still plays a significant role in markets,

particularly for certain asset classes

and complex transactions that require

negotiation and nuance. But the

world is changing, and the increasing

integration of GenAI technologies

is accelerating this shift. We see a

future where voice won’t just be a

mode for executing trades, but could

become the dominant interface for

everything in institutional trading—

from client engagement to internal

communications and decision-making.

At IPC, we’re not only digitising voice;

we’re preparing for this future.

Voice communications are increasingly

being enhanced by artificial

intelligence, including natural

language processing (NLP) and

sentiment analysis. These technologies

will enable voice data to be processed

in real-time, making it a much more

valuable source of actionable insights.

In essence, voice data will no longer

just be a record of a conversation—it

will become a critical piece of the

broader market intelligence puzzle.

Historically, voice trading has

been a crucial part of the market

for complex negotiations, where

relationships matter. Even in an

increasingly electronic world, there’s

still a need for that ‘human touch.’

But with the continued rise of AI

and machine learning, we foresee

a shift where voice is integrated

into automated workflows, where

conversations are transcribed,

analyzed, and used to influence trading

decisions, compliance reports, and

market strategies.

At the same time, as voice trades

work their way through transaction

lifecycle processes—whether that’s

for compliance reporting or client

transaction review—automated

systems will ensure that everything

is captured, documented, and

auditable. Capturing voice data

electronically to process it through this

increasingly complex web of systems

and regulations is one of the largest

challenges for financial firms. IPC’s

voice trading solutions are evolving

with this in mind, helping firms

capture and extract more from every

voice interaction.

By integrating AI with voice

communications, IPC will continue to

enhance not just voice trading, but



IPC’s ecosystem ensures that financial firms of all sizes can operate efficiently and competitively.

also the way firms communicate and

operate across the board. As voice

remains a vital component of trading

in FX and beyond, IPC is ensuring

that our clients are prepared for a

future where voice is an integral part

of every interaction, both internally

and with clients. This is not just

about digitising voice for today’s

market—it’s about enabling a future

where voice is the primary interface

in financial workflows, powered by

AI and ready to integrate seamlessly

with other trading and market data

solutions.

How is AI helping to position IPC

for the future of FX, particularly

in terms of enhancing trade

execution and market data

analysis?

AI is transforming how financial

institutions operate, and at IPC,

we are on the cutting edge of this

transformation. We are increasingly

integrating AI-driven analytics and

machine learning into our platforms,

ensuring that our clients can optimise

their trading strategies and improve

risk management. By using AIpowered

tools for sentiment analysis

and natural language processing

(NLP), we’re able to offer more

actionable insights derived from voice

data, which has traditionally been

one of the most underutilised sources

of market intelligence.

As AI becomes increasingly

embedded into institutional

workflows, it will help drive smarter,

faster decision-making. This is

especially important in FX markets,

where timing and precision are

OUR AI ENGINE

ENABLES A FULLY

CUSTOMISED

ONBOARDING

EXPERIENCE

everything. By continuing to push

the boundaries of AI and machine

learning in trading communications,

IPC is positioning itself as not just a

leader in infrastructure but as a key

enabler of the next generation of

financial trading.

IPC is extremely focused on

delivering a customer-centric

experience. What other factors

help to differentiate you from other

leading FX infrastructure providers?

Many claim it, few mean it! IPC’s

continuing success and growth over

50+ years in business has been

built very much on a customer-first

philosophy that prioritises reliability,

flexibility, security and continuous

innovation. Unlike many service

providers that offer rigid, one-sizefits-all

solutions, and high cost, longcommitment

service agreements,

IPC designs all of its services to be

scalable and easily integrable into

existing trading environments.

Another key service differentiator

is our API-first strategy, which

enables seamless integration with

other services and applications. This

approach allows clients to customise

their trading workflows, improve



IPC designs all of its services to be scalable and easily integrable into existing trading environments


automation and enhance overall

efficiency.

To illustrate this, our flagship voice

trading solution, OneView Portfolio,

was developed precisely to satisfy

growing market expectation for greater

integration with, and interoperability

between, multiple enterprise and thirdparty

applications and processes.

Built in alignment with IPC’s Open

Platform-and-API-first philosophy,

OneView brings together the

fragmented and often disconnected

workflows that run in and across

different applications and platforms.

It also enables seamless integration

with Here (formally OpenFin)enabled

desktops.

From a user perspective, it unifies

everything that needs to be ‘attached’

to a voice trade within a single touch,

single view environment. Importantly,

it doesn’t require any changes in ‘user

behaviour’; we didn’t want our user

base to have to learn a whole new

way of doing things. Rather, we see

it as the consolidation of a number

of things we were already doing,

packaged within a more efficient and

integrated solution.

Additionally, IPC’s commitment to and co-opetition to support our users,

collaboration and strategic partnerships connecting disparate moving parts in

also sets us apart. By working with more efficient ways to make things

leading market data providers, cloud better, smarter and faster.

platforms and fintech innovators, IPC

ensures that our extensive network Ultimately, IPC’s blend of cuttingedge

technology and customer-centric

of customers have access to the latest

technology without having to manage innovation will be a critical driver in

complex integrations themselves. solidifying its position as a market

It’s a 1+1 = 3 scenario - rather than leader in trading communications

continuous ‘wheel-reinvention.’ We and connectivity infrastructure and

look to partnerships, collaboration services.

ABOUT IPC

A specialist technology and service leader powering global financial

markets, IPC Systems is at the forefront of electronic trading connectivity

and state-of-the-art cloud communications, setting the standard for

exceptional service, innovation, and expertise. IPC’s customer-first approach

is bolstered by an extensive and diverse financial ecosystem that spans all

asset classes and connects market participants anywhere in the world for

enhanced communication, collaboration, and compliance. Global services

include electronic trading, trading communications, and infrastructure-as-aservice

solutions. IPC is ideally positioned to anticipate change and remain

aligned with rapidly transforming markets, and to empower customers to

adapt to change, now and in the future. To learn more, visit www.ipc.com,

explore our insights page, and follow us on LinkedIn.



IPC HAS ESTABLISHED ITSELF

AS THE TRUSTED PROVIDER OF

MISSION-CRITICAL SOLUTIONS,

BUT WE’RE NOW ENTERING A

NEW PHASE—ONE WHERE WE’RE

NOT JUST KEEPING UP WITH

INDUSTRY SHIFTS, BUT ALSO

ACTIVELY SHAPING THEM. AT

IPC THE FUTURE OF TRADING

IS DEFINED BY INNOVATION,

AGILITY, AND AN UNWAVERING

COMMITMENT TO OUR

CUSTOMERS.


Innovation meets

Automation:

Unlocking more opportunities with new

FX option trading models and platforms

By Paul Golden

TRADING OPERATIONS



TRADING OPERATIONS

Automation is having a growing impact on FX options trading, but as Paul Golden discovers more

needs to be done to maximise the efficiency of this market.

One of the obvious inefficiencies in FX

options trading is around identification

of - and access to - liquidity. This is

exacerbated by well-known OTC

market headaches such as credit

intermediation, increasingly stringent

capital requirements and operating

with opaque data in a fragmented

liquidity landscape.

“Operationally, the FX options market

is extraordinarily manual - price

requests are still taken from chats and

re-keyed into different dealing systems,

only to be re-posted back into a chat

for execution,” observes Chris Jackson,

CEO & founder OptAxe.

“Due to the proliferation of multistrategy

portfolio managers and

reduction in sales teams, a single

salesperson is now typically covering

scores of clients. A lot of information is

lost on chats which are not optimised

for liquidity discovery and pricing.”

BETTER COMMUNICATION IS

VITAL

How trades are communicated

between portfolio manager, trader,

OMS, EMS, back office and the

market impacts pricing, trading and

booking adds Katharine Furber, global

head of FX trading at Bloomberg.

“So how do we solve those

problems? Firstly, the coverage of

strategies that the market supports

electronically has been greatly

enhanced. The other thing that

is beneficial from a technology

perspective is that you can not only

trade by chat or voice but also via

RFQ, RFS, or direct order routing.”

Some of the initial challenges within

the business of trading FX options

electronically can be attributed to

the time it takes to get traditional

traders comfortable with a new way of

trading. That is the view of Mark Suter,

executive chairman Digital Vega, who

refers to many asset managers being

on the cusp of starting to trade more

options electronically.

“Another opportunity lies with private

banks who tend to trade the more

complex structural products, which

up until now has been very manual

and primarily delivered by a handful

of global banks,” he says. “Then there

are second tier and regional banks


Innovation meets Automation: Unlocking more opportunities with new FX option trading models and platforms

TRADING OPERATIONS

“Operationally, the FX options market is extraordinarily manual -

price requests are still taken from chats and re-keyed into different

dealing systems, only to be re-posted back into a chat for execution.”

Chris Jackson

under increasing pressure from clients

to provide accurate rapid pricing and

regulators to provide accurate and

timely reporting. When it comes to

best execution, you really need robust,

automated processes, not screenshots

or writing things down.”

From a bank’s point of view, one of

the reasons why electronic options

trading has not advanced as rapidly

Katharine Furber

as it might have is that pricing

options electronically could lead

to competition that will compress

spreads.

“The technology for full electronic

trading of FX options has been

available for some time and AI is

poised to help the buy-side construct

effective option strategies tailored

to their risk profiles,” notes Alan

Dweck, COO buy-side solutions at

SGX FX. “As technologies advance,

more complex option structures will

start to trade electronically, ensuring

more competitive pricing and better

execution.”

NON-BANK LIQUIDITY

SIGNIFICANT

Dweck describes the entrance of

non-bank liquidity providers into the

institutional OTC FX options market

as particularly encouraging and notes

that more banks are joining EMS

platforms.

Whilst the risks associated with a

single option are relatively clear,

managing a portfolio of options

introduces complexity. As more

options are added, the overall risk

profile becomes increasingly opaque

and difficult to measure.

Dweck explains that correlations

between different options can negate

or increase risk in ways that are not

immediately apparent, adding to the

complexity. This makes accurate risk

assessment challenging, requiring

“Buy-side clients are interested not only in the rejection rate

but who’s rejecting trades and for which currency pairs or

strategies. They want to know how much time it took for the

dealer to respond with a quote and if they did the trade, what

happened in the market afterwards.”

sophisticated tools and strategies to

manage it effectively.

Jackson says dealers want to show

axes directly to other market

participants, but in a discreet,

controlled fashion with a flexible

protocol. The buy-side want to see

more liquidity, but in a way that

improves their pre-trade process and

reduces their transaction costs.

“Bespoke venues provide comfort that

both sides will benefit from exposing

this interest, with a higher chance of

trading and minimal market impact,”

he adds. “Liquidity takers are now able

to scan for offsetting risk that gives

them favourable entry points without

signalling intent by asking multiple

providers in competition.”

In terms of liquidity, Suter references

growing interest in (and use of) first

generation products and says the

company is close to launching a

range of barrier-based products to be

followed by digitals.

“As the next generation of people

working in ultra-high net worth family

offices become more active, they

want to embrace electronic trading,”

he says. “They are looking for access

to competitive pricing for a range of

complex products.”

Electronic trading leads to better risk

management by booking trades in

a more efficient, formatted manner.

But how have these innovations

impacted liquidity? According to

Furber, transparency helps because if

traders are comfortable with market

transparency, they are much more

willing to trade a variety of different

strategies and currency pairs.

“We now have about 140 firms

that are market makers in options

and around 30 of those can price

instantaneously by API,” she says.


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Visit stonexpro.stonex.com to learn more

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whether express or implied, is given as to its completeness or accuracy.



TRADING OPERATIONS

“As the next generation of people working in ultra-high net

worth family offices become more active, they want to embrace

electronic trading. They are looking for access to competitive

pricing for a range of complex products.”

Mark Suter

“Banks and liquidity providers are

aggressively increasing their ability to

trade these products electronically. If

you look at the number of currencies

that trade electronically, we did north

of 145 different pairs over the last 12

months - an increase of 15%.”

MULTIPLE STRATEGIES

BOOSTING LIQUIDITY

Efforts to enhance liquidity in FX

options trading are converging across

market structure innovation, protocol

diversification and buy- and sell-side

engagement, explains Jackson.

“Firstly, the market is able to access

a number of different protocols that

combine RFQ, streaming and CLOB

models,” he says. “Workflows have

been simplified to cater for users to

manage these hybrid positions while

SDPs and direct connectivity to banks’

streaming liquidity have provided

end-users with higher volume lit

liquidity.”

Liquidity is being deepened by

expanding the range of market

participants and advances in cleared

FX options and prime brokerage

models are reducing bilateral credit

risk, allowing more firms to interact

with a broader set of counterparties.

“This is particularly relevant as

regulatory capital constraints continue

to shape the willingness of banks

to warehouse options risk,” adds

Jackson.

When asked to what extent workflow

automation toolsets for FX option

trading are tailored to meet the

specific requirements of each client,

Suter refers to ‘variations on a theme,

but the variations can be pretty wide

and are getting wider all the time’.

“Workflow automation is increasing

across the board. Many clients

have identified manual areas in

their workflows and are working to

address them. But some of the more

technology-savvy systematic funds

already automate all their trading

processes which includes splitting and

randomising trades and using autoexpiries

and auto-fixing.”

One of the factors behind the push for

market data is that compared to cash

markets, affordable, accessible data is

limited.

“Market participants are more

comfortable if they have an idea of

what’s going on, who is providing

good service and who is strong in

specific currency pairs,” says Suter.

“Historically, the buy-side has had

limited data to work from; what we

are working on is being able to say

‘these are the best firms’ based on

real-time, empirical evidence. As buyside

clients start to see less market

impact and enhanced returns from

better pricing, they are encouraged to

do more.”

WORKFLOW SOLUTIONS

INCREASINGLY SOPHISTICATED

Dweck observes that from an EMS

perspective, pre-trade workflows can

mirror those used in FX cash trading.

“FX options can be staged into

a trading platform, netted and

shaped into orders, sliced into

smaller components and then sent

for execution,” he says. “Post-trade

workflows involve specific workflows

around hedging Greeks and the

exercising of options that are unique

to OTC FX options. To offer these

workflow features, trading platforms

need to have a strong presence in the

cash market.”

Dweck expects this to shake up the

electronic FX options market and move

trading from specialised platforms to

those with a wider presence across all

FX trading.

Data and analytics play a crucial role

in market timing, strategy creation

and liquidity curation - without data,

traders and portfolio managers are

operating blind. However, Dweck

observes that data alone is insufficient

and that analytics are necessary

to contextualise and interpret the

information they are seeing so they

can have actionable insights to drive

better decision-making.

One of the interesting aspects of data

in the FX market is that it isn’t just

about looking at the trade blotter –

it’s about looking at activity before

and after the trade, known as event

data. Buy-side clients want to quantify

their counterparties’ performance by

looking at the number of trades rejects

or volume attempted.

“They are interested not only in the

rejection rate but who’s rejecting

trades and for which currency pairs

or strategies,” explains Furber. “They

want to know how much time it

took for the dealer to respond with a


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TRADING OPERATIONS

“The technology for full electronic trading of FX options has

been available for some time and AI is poised to help the buyside

construct effective option strategies tailored to their risk

profiles.”

Alan Dweck

quote and if they did the trade, what

happened in the market afterwards.

For example, did the market move

because the dealer just went and

passed that back into the marketplace

or did they put it in their book

because they are taking principal risk.”

On the flipside, if dealers can figure

out how many times a client calls

for a price on a particular strategy

or currency pair, how many times

they traded away and how their

price compared, they can be a better

liquidity provider to that client.

“The appetite from our clients for

more data is huge and our job is

to make sure we have an accurate

database that we can package

appropriately,” says Furber. “Clients

can then use our systems or reporting

structure to figure out how to do

better with a specific strategy or

currency.”

Jackson observes that beyond the

pre-trade stage, data analytics in FX

options remains limited. Visibility of

inventory across the market is still

largely absent, with most platforms

offering only indicative pricing via

multi-bank RFQs.

“There have been some efforts to

bring TCA to FX options, but progress

has been slow,” he says. “The bilateral,

fragmented and often opaque nature

of the market makes consistent posttrade

analytics and benchmarking

difficult to standardise. As a result,

data analytics has so far concentrated

on enhancing pre-trade intelligence

rather than transforming the full trade

lifecycle.”

According to Jackson, FX options is

often seen as a place where innovation

can really elevate the user experience.

MARKET STRUCTURE

CONSTANTLY EVOLVING

“We are witnessing market structure

evolve as demands for transparency,

automation and liquidity discovery

are being met,” he says. “Existing

platforms are evolving and new

platforms are emerging to cater for

these demands. Regulatory push,

capital cost rises, efficiency demands

and client experience all lead to

the same conclusion - innovation is

essential. It is widely accepted that

there has always been a lot of upside

in FX options technology, but the

timing finally feels right.”

Dweck acknowledges that

electronification of the FX options

market is increasing but adds that

regulatory pressures have added

associated costs that make it

increasingly difficult for new players to

enter the market.

“Therefore, we may not see a

significant increase in the number

of platforms,” he says. “Instead,

competition among existing platforms

is likely to intensify as they strive to

gain market share. This heightened

competition will drive the development

of new features and technologies,

benefiting the marketplace

overall. Platforms that can offer a

comprehensive solution across both

cash and options will prevail.”

Suter is also unconvinced that we

going to see a wave of new platforms

and order management solutions

pushing the options market forward,

stating that bank liquidity is required

to make any platform viable in the

long term.

“We’ve been working on a central

limit order book project,” he says.

“Banks told us they were looking for

an alternative e-focused solution. It

took us about 18 months to build

the first version and start connecting

people. But the reality is that you need

to show good liquidity to launch and

to get integrated into any of the major

dealers via API and for them to price

onto a GUI or an API is taking much

longer to achieve these days.”

“People talk about having an all-to-all

market but it is difficult to achieve this

with limited bank participation,” adds

Suter. “There are so many different

currency pairs, strikes, deltas and

combinations that trying to achieve a

perfect match every time is going to

be challenging indeed.”

Furber expects FX options volumes to

increase but cautions that although

the technology is not over-complicated,

new market entrants would need to

offer a wider range of services and a

deeper range of currency pairs and

strategies. “New firms will enter the

market with sophisticated technology,”

she concludes. “The question is, how

will clients react and who is able to

provide the most reliable and widest

range of services? It takes time to

incorporate workflows into a package

that is easily consumable.”


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Examining the potential for

Cloud Computing to disrupt the

current FX market ecosystem

With Matt Barrett, CEO and co-founder at Adaptive (weareadaptive.com)

ASK A PROVIDER

Matt Barrett

What makes the structure of the FX

markets a particularly good fit for

the use of Cloud services?

The structure of FX markets is uniquely

suited for cloud services due to

its decentralized, over-the-counter

(OTC) nature and inherent liquidity

fragmentation. Unlike listed markets

such as equities, where trading is

centralized on exchanges, the FX

market is highly fragmented and

regional, driven by varying regulatory

requirements and numerous national

currencies, each with its own trading

ecosystem. As a result, intermediating

and facilitating service providers have

emerged to connect counterparties,

often at significant cost due to

complex pricing models.

Historically, these providers aggregated

liquidity from multiple sources and

provided access to a wide range

of currency pairs and financial

instruments, essential when direct

bilateral connectivity was prohibitively

expensive. Cloud technology has

dramatically changed this paradigm,

reducing these connectivity costs and

enabling cheap connections between

counterparties in the cloud.

The cloud’s scalable, flexible, and

cost-effective connectivity can disrupt

the current market structure, allowing

FX market participants to reduce their

reliance on traditional intermediaries,

eliminating the complexity and cost

associated with trading. This shift is

particularly significant given FX is one

of the largest and most liquid financial

markets.

How would you describe the major

benefits of the Cloud in helping FX

market participants to meet the

various day-to-day challenges they

face?

Cloud offers significant advantages,

particularly in addressing liquidity

fragmentation and high intermediation

fees. By leveraging cloud technology,

firms can bypass intermediaries, enabling

more direct and cost-effective trading

relationships. It allows firms to allocate

resources more efficiently and focus on

their core trading activities. The cloud

enables new entrants to provide lowcost,

bilateral trading with a different fee

structure oriented around infrastructure

rather than facilitation, charging for

connectivity like a software license, rather

than a facilitation fee based on deal size.

This shift makes trading more transparent

and cost-effective.

Scalability is another critical benefit

of cloud adoption. The ability to

quickly scale resources up or down,

based on trading volumes and market

conditions, helps FX firms manage

trading spikes and market volatility

more effectively. This flexibility is

essential in a highly liquid market

where trading volumes can vary

significantly. Cloud infrastructure

allows the handling of fluctuations

without the need for substantial

upfront investments in physical data

centers and hardware.

Why is it important that trading

firms distinguish between the

characteristics of different types of

Cloud technologies available (public,

hybrid, private) and the relative

benefits of each?

Different trading strategies and

regulatory requirements necessitate

distinct cloud solutions. Public cloud

offers cost efficiency and scalability,

driven by API-driven, softwaredefined

infrastructure. This allows for

significant cost reduction, as cloud

providers leverage their scale to drive

down provisioning costs. Public clouds

commoditized utility offerings make

connectivity and infrastructure setup

far cheaper, enabling firms to achieve

substantial cost savings and lowering

barriers to entry.

In contrast, private cloud provides

better control and security but can

be more expensive due to manual

configuration and setup. Whilst private


ASK A PROVIDER

or hybrid models are a first step, the

true cost benefits materialize with

public cloud, where the scale and

automation capabilities of hyperscale

cloud providers can drastically reduce

expenses.

In what way can the use of the

Cloud open up new business

growth opportunities for global FX

providers, offering them the ability

to quickly and easily expand their

operations into new markets?

Cloud platforms enable rapid

deployment of trading infrastructure

in new regions, literally within

minutes rather than weeks or months.

They support the integration of new

asset classes and trading products,

allowing for seamless scaling of

operations. This agility facilitates swift

market entry and expansion, driving

business growth.

What are some of the first mover

advantages that the use of Cloud

can confer?

Cloud platforms can enable faster

time-to-market for new trading

solutions and enhance trade

execution by providing scalable

resources that adapt to market

conditions. Additionally, the

cloud provides access to advanced

technologies such as AI and machine

learning, technologies that require

significant processing power, which

the cloud can deliver efficiently.

While the use of cloud for offline or

batch analysis is generally accepted,

access to tech like AI and ML can

enable real-time trade processing in

the cloud. Though more contentious,

it holds significant potential for

innovation; enhancing overall trading

performance, providing deeper

market insights, predictive analytics,

and more responsive trading

platforms, ultimately improving client

satisfaction.

The cloud provides access to AI and machine learning, technologies that require significant processing power,

which the cloud can deliver efficiently

What steps have leading cloud

providers been taking to ensure

they can guarantee security,

reliability and ultra low latency

access to the type of high

performance services FX trading

firms require?

Cloud providers are investing millions

in high-performance data centers

and network infrastructure aligned to

capital market needs, including edge

computing, to reduce latency. They

hold multiple compliance certifications

(e.g., ISO, SOC) to ensure security and

reliability and continuous performance

testing and optimization, including

cloud-native technologies like Aeron,

confirm their capability to meet FX

trading demands.

In what way is the use of Cloud set

to transform and democratize the

FX markets in the future as well as

changing and enhancing customer

engagement and experience?

The use of cloud is lowering barriers

to entry for smaller firms and

new market participants, hence

democratizing the FX markets. By

providing access to high-performance

trading infrastructure, cloud platforms

enable a more competitive and

transparent market environment.

Additionally, advanced analytics

facilitated by cloud services allow for

more personalized and responsive

customer service, enhancing client

engagement and satisfaction. Finally,

cloud supports the development

of innovative trading platforms and

tools, driving continuous market

innovation and improving overall

trading experiences.

The FX market has a wide range

of participants, such as banks,

brokers, asset managers and

hedge funds. What factors should

influence their choice of suitable

cloud providers to partner with?

One element is the level of

customization offered by different

cloud models, as this can be

crucial for meeting specific needs.

Additionally, understanding the

characteristics of each cloud type

can help firms avoid vendor lock-in,

ensuring they maintain flexibility in

their cloud strategy.

While transitioning vast numbers of

connected market participants from

co-location/on-premises data centers

might appear challenging now, it

ultimately presents a significant

opportunity to enhance FX market

efficiency and performance.


Overcoming latency issues:

A case study involving

Indonesian brokers

By Cristian Vlasceanu, CEO, Centroid Solutions

comes to liquidity, many brokers are

using liquidity providers from different

parts of the world where optimal

via Internet, and Internet is not

something we can control.

NETWORKS, HOSTING & CONNECTIVITY

Cristian Vlasceanu

For some brokers, regulatory

requirements require them to have

their trading platform server hosted

within the country. However, when it

offerings are available, i.e. sourcing

liquidity from London LD4. This

geographical separation introduces

a major challenge: price feed and

trading latency, which can negatively

impact brokers.

UNDERSTANDING THE LATENCY

ISSUE

When a broker’s trading platform

is not hosted close to their liquidity

provider (LP), there is a high chance

that slippage or data packet loss will

occur, as it takes time for prices or

orders to travel to and from the LP’s

pricing engine to the trading platform

When data travels via the Internet, it

goes through different access points

and the bandwidth is being shared

with other parties who are using the

Internet. Hence the connection can

sometimes be slower and in the worst

case scenario, packet loss may happen.

In FX and CFDs trading, even

milliseconds matter, and any delay can

result in slippage or missed trading

opportunities. Hence the optimal

setup is to have the LP, Connectivity

Bridge, and the trading platform

hosted in close proximity to each

other, such that the distance and

latency is kept to a minimum.

As a case study, we shall look at what

caused an Indonesian broker to put

in place a leased line to streamline

their service to their customers and

what improvements it brings to their

business.

The impact: downtime, client and

revenue loss, and reputational

damage.

Many brokers are using liquidity providers from different parts of the world

As mentioned at the beginning of this

article, for brokers who are operating

in Indonesia, the regulations require

them to host their trading platform

server, on authorised vendors, in their

respective country. However, as the


NETWORKS, HOSTING & CONNECTIVITY

trading counterparties with the most

competitive offering have their engines

in London LD4, the brokers are faced

with the disadvantage of being far

away, and consequently face potential

latency-related problems.

One such broker experienced severe

connectivity challenges, including

frequent disconnections, which

prevented their clients from trading

effectively. These issues also caused

delayed order executions, further

compounding the problem.

AS A RESULT:

• Several clients incurred financial

losses due to failed trades.

• Complaints and refund requests

surged, adding strain to the broker’s

operations.

• The broker’s financial performance

suffered, accompanied by

reputational damage and a decline

in client trust.

The solution: Centroid hosting with a

leased line

To address these challenges, Centroid

Solutions proposed a robust leased

line solution. By establishing the leased

line connectivity between Centroid’s

London LD4 Bridge Infrastructure

and the location within Indonesia,

where the broker’s trading platform

is, this ensures the broker’s trading

infrastructure and trading platform are

seamlessly interconnected.

TO SUPPORT THIS SOLUTION:

• Traffic patterns, including average

bandwidth usage and peak

activity, were thoroughly analyzed.

Adequate reserved bandwidth was

provisioned to handle current traffic

under varying market conditions,

with scalability for future growth.

• Redundancy was incorporated into

the end-to-end solution to ensure

reliability and minimize the risk of

disruptions.

• Continuous performance

monitoring was established to

track latency and bandwidth

usage. This ensures that the

leased line remains optimally

provisioned. Bandwidth allocation

can be adjusted as needed to

accommodate increased activity

and prevent bottlenecks.

This solution provided the broker

with a stable and efficient trading

environment, addressing their

connectivity challenges and

supporting their long-term growth.

THE RESULTS: SEAMLESS

TRADING EXPERIENCE

After implementing Centroid’s hosting

solution’s leased line solutions, the

broker saw immediate improvements:

• Drastic reduction in latency: Nearinstant

trade execution, enabling

a smoother trading experience for

clients.

• Elimination of packet loss: Reliable

transmission of price updates and

trade orders, ensuring accuracy

and consistency.

• Enhanced client satisfaction:

Improved trading performance

In FX and CFDs trading even milliseconds matter

led to greater client satisfaction,

retention, and trust.

• Consistent and predictable

connectivity: A stable and

predefined connectivity experience

ensured uninterrupted trading

operations.

This case highlights the importance

of optimized hosting and connectivity

for brokers operating in regulated

markets while sourcing liquidity from

international providers. With Centroid

Hosting, brokers can achieve superior

execution performance, reduced

latency, and a seamless trading

environment for their clients.

CONCLUSION

For brokers operating across different

parts of the world and facing similar

connectivity challenges, Centroid

hosting solutions provides tailored

solutions that bridge geographical

gaps, enhance execution efficiency,

and ensure compliance with local

regulations. With a robust hosting

infrastructure and dedicated leased

line solutions, Centroid empowers

brokers to remain competitive in the

global market without compromising

on performance or reliability.


Modern traders are

tech-savvy, confident,

and independent

By Robert Cioffi at ION Markets

with change. However, today’s newer

generation of traders have broken that

mold: they’re tech-savvy, independent

thinkers who prefer to personalize and

customize their trading platforms; and

to have direct access to raw data to do

their own analyses.

Today’s financial services technology

users show a strong preference for

self-service financial tools. They also

want transparency, and access to raw

data, which allow them to analyze

data for themselves.

EXPERT OPINION

Robert Cioffi

The traditional perception of traders

is that they’re not tech-savvy, that

they are routine-focused, happy with

the status quo, and uncomfortable

The trend parallels the rise of algotrading

worldwide, forcing traders to

understand and work with technology

to compete successfully. From

predominantly manual trading, daily

growth in the number of trades using

algorithmic methods has tipped the

balance. In the United States, Europe,

and Asian markets, some 60–70% of

the total institutional trading volume is

now electronic.

Today’s professional traders seek

tools that enable them to customize

financial reporting, too. They want

to create their own dashboards,

track personalized metrics, and run

scenarios based on their specific

business requirements, rather than

relying on generic reports.

TECHNOLOGY IS PART OF THEIR

EVERY DAY

This generation grew up with digital

technology. Across society, as people

spend ever-more time on their

computers and other digital devices,

they become more adept with using

technology in their daily lives and

at work. Today, most people are

comfortable with email and often use

self-service data-driven platforms,

such as e-commerce, entertainment,

financial services, and social media.

Indeed, personal technology has

become nearly ubiquitous in

developed nations worldwide.

Today’s professional traders grew up with digital technology

Almost 75 percent of the population

in the top 10 developed countries

own a smartphone. Globally, some 90

percent of mobile phones – over 7.2


EXPERT OPINION

billion instruments – are smartphones.

In other words, most of the world’s

8.2 billion inhabitants own one. The

business-to-consumer sector has

capitalized on this trend, with an

estimated 8.93 million apps ranging

from communications platforms and

games to online banking, healthcare

services, and retail vendors (2024

statistics). Moreover, mobile operating

systems and mobile app developments

are continuous, with upgrades and

new features added constantly. Users

are accustomed to constant change in

technology.

By comparison, the business-tobusiness

sector has lagged behind

this far technological revolution. For

example, many financial technology

platforms evolved in the early 21st

century. So, for example, a platform

developed between 2000 and 2005

(that is, long before the advent of

the iPhone) is up to 25 years old.

Users are looking at platforms that

haven’t changed over the passage

of time. Naturally, there are different

economies of scale at play, especially

in niche areas such as the financial

services sector where the user base is

counted in the tens of thousands (not

the consumer billions).

Mobile operating systems and mobile app developments are continuous, with upgrades and new features added constantly

TRUST AND TOTAL

TRANSPARENCY

Trust is a key factor in financial services,

and today’s generation of traders

places a high value on transparency.

A 2024 Charles Schwab survey in the

US showed that many people today

are more likely to trust the Internet as

a source of information than before.

Moreover, many prefer platforms that

allow them to view raw, unfiltered

financial data so they can verify

information independently.

Individuals who are technologically

adept and possess the requisite

analytical skills appreciate access to raw

data for deeper analysis. There is also

evidence that today’s financial services

professionals use raw data to build

custom financial models or integrate

their data into third-party applications

for more in-depth reporting.

SELF-SERVICE FINANCIAL TOOLS

They are increasingly turning to selfservice

tools that provide personalized

insights, such as artificial intelligence

(AI) and large language models

(LLMs); Power BI to build dashboards

that equip to manipulate, present,

and interpret data; and APIs to write

Python queries.

Modern traders also appreciate

financial technologies that automate

workflow across the trade lifecycle.

They also want tools that provide

transparency into the algorithms

used and allow them to customize

or adjust the automation based on

their own analysis of raw data.In fact,

this generation of financial services

technology users also shows a strong

preference for self-service financial

tools that provide transparency, and

access to raw data. They increasingly

use APIs, and data analytics platforms

to pull raw data, create custom

reports, and perform their own

financial analysis.

TECHNOLOGY MUST CATER TO

THESE TRENDS

These trends must shape how financial

services providers develop products

and cater to this digitally native, datasavvy

generation.Conversely, financial

services providers underestimate this

generation of traders at our peril.

It’s crucial to ensure that we are

developing the right technology

to equip our customers with the

tools they need to build successful

businesses.

This content was originally published

on the ION Markets blog.

1.

https://www.clarusft.com/fx-clearing-2024-a-break-out-year-for-options/#:~:text=The%20cleared%20FX%20market%20experienced,%24125%20billion%20in%20FX%20futures.


Reimagining business spend

operations for Alternative

Investment firms

Steven Petersen, Co-Founder of Stavtar, outlines a unified, automated

approach to expense allocation, vendor management, payment

execution and compliance.

PAYMENT AUTOMATION

Steven Petersen

The front office in alternative investments

has evolved significantly in the past few

years. Advanced analytics, automation,

multi-asset strategies and real-time

decision making are commonplace. But

too often the operational infrastructure

behind the scenes tells a fundamentally

different story.

Expense allocation, vendor

management, contract oversight and

invoice processing which are functions

vital to governance still rely on manual

work, spreadsheets, email approvals

and disconnected systems. We spend

way too much time, energy and money

paying bills, allocating expenses,

booking entries, booking wires, and

all we get out of it is a paid bill. Not

to mention, the manual process

lends itself to inadequate allocation,

misallocations, delayed payments,

compliance risks and finance teams

constantly playing catch up because

they are doing manual work.

The consequences of manual processes

are quite costly as they slow fund

operations and negatively impact

investors. The Securities and Exchange

Commission has stated that expense

allocation is a 2025 exam priority.

Regulators around the world are asking

tougher questions about how costs are

shared across funds, entities, strategies

and geographies.

Fund structures are complex. What

looks like a simple payment has

the potential to create complicated

reconciliations. One vendor can impact

multiple entities. The margin for error is

quite high without automation.

Stavtar, founded by a CFO and CTO

of large alternative asset management

firms, identified these challenges in

the back-office and created a cloud

platform to address the operational

inefficiencies in alternative investments.

Stavtar’s flagship StavPay platform

offers alternative investment firms a

technology layer that sits above all

other financial and fund technologies,

capturing, housing, and managing

vendors, contracts and invoices in

one unified system. It serves as the

sole source of truth for all financial

operations and frees finance teams to

focus on higher-value work.

There is a real imperative for end-toend

automation of expense allocations

through digitized vendor management,

contract oversight, invoice processing

and payment execution. This is

particularly true for firms looking to

scale and future-proof their operations.

THE EXPENSE ALLOCATION

CHALLENGE IN ALTERNATIVE

INVESTMENTS

Expense allocation is a vital process

that impacts fund performance,

compliance and investor trust. Each

market participant faces its own

unique challenges:

• Hedge Funds: Managing execution

fees, research costs and soft dollar

arrangements across the investment

lifecycle.

• Private Equity and Venture Capital:

Allocating management fees, legal

expenses, deal execution costs and

broken deal costs across multiple

funds and portfolio companies as

well as tracking, allocating and

invoicing time spent down to their

portfolio companies.

• Pension Funds and Sovereign

Wealth Funds: Operating across

multiple geographies with complex

multi-entity expense structures.

• Family Offices, Foundations and

Endowments: Managing investment

management costs, vendor

payments, discretionary spending

and philanthropic activities with

complete transparency.

The traditional model of relying on

disparate email chains, disconnected

fund administrators and manual

reconciliations is no longer viable.

Growing operational inefficiencies and

potential compliance risks have started

forcing alternative investment firms

to rethink how they manage expense

allocations.



Reimagining business spend operations for Alternative Investment firms

PAYMENT AUTOMATION

THE SOLUTION TO A VEXING

PROBLEM: END-TO-END

AUTOMATION OF EXPENSE

ALLOCATION

Modern investment firms are complex

businesses. The most visionary and

innovative firms are adopting technology

platforms that automate the entire

expense allocation workflow through

a unified system. A fully automated

platform includes the following elements:

1. Vendor management and contract

oversight

• Vendors, contracts and payment

terms are stored centrally.

• Custom multi-layer expense

allocation rules are implemented and

standardized.

• Automated alerts regarding upcoming

cancel lead times and auto renewals.

2. Automated invoice processing and

expense classification

• Artificial intelligence and machine

learning to capture, extract and

process data from invoices and

choosing workflows, including a

human loop of support to review.

• Intelligent classification of expenses

based on custom built and

predefined allocation rules using

unlimited underlying attributes.

3. Streamlined approval workflows

• Approvals are routed based on the

rules, policies and thresholds defined

by the firm.

• Audit trails that ensure the

appropriate review of expenses and

their allocations.

4. Single click payments and

reconciliation

• Direct payments through a single

click via ACH, RTP, USD and crossborder

wires.

• Integration to general ledgers for

both the management company and

the funds for automatic booking to

ensure accurate financial reporting

and easy audit.

• Real-time, robust and dynamic

reporting from the highest to lowest

level of detail for rapid, informed

decision making.

Digitizing every step of the expense

allocation workflow empowers firms

to eliminate bottlenecks, ensure

compliance and achieve real-time

visibility into cost structures.

INTEROPERABILITY ACROSS

FINANCIAL AND FUND

TECHNOLOGIES

Most alternative investment firms

use multiple platforms for wire

payments, fund administration, treasury

management and banking. This is

particularly true for the larger firms that

operate across multiple jurisdictions.

Platform fragmentation is a barrier to

modernization and causes reconciliation

challenges. These dynamics have led

to significant market demand for an

expense allocation system that can

interoperate with general ledgers,

banking portals, wire platforms,

treasury management systems,

soft dollar providers, fintech data

aggregators and payment infrastructure

providers. By integrating with and

unifying these systems, alternative

investment firms can achieve straightthrough

processing, guaranteeing

that expenses are correctly captured,

allocated, approved and settled in a

single automated workflow.

FROM APPROVAL TO

EXECUTION: STREAMLINING

PAYMENT AUTOMATION

Fund managers often view invoice

approvals and payment execution as

separate workflows. Consequently,

finance teams often initiate payments

manually by logging into banking

portals and subsequently reconciling

transactions.

A fully automated end-to-end workflow

removes this friction by integrating

payments directly into the expense

workflow, allowing hedge funds, private

equity firms and other alternative

investment managers to:

• Approve and execute vendor

payments from a single interface.

• Release payments via ACH, RTP, USD

and cross-border wires.

• Automate settlement and

reconciliation with GL systems.

• One platform to review accounts and

balances across the entire enterprise.

This well-defined digitized process

ensures that every payment is matched to

the correct invoice, vendor contract and

fund without any manual intervention.

Instant wires! No spreadsheets!

A COMPLIANCE-READY,

SCALABLE PLATFORM

There is an increased regulatory focus

on expense allocation and alternative

investment firms are finding it necessary

to demonstrate that their processes are

transparent and compliant. Industryleading

‘Office of the CFO’ platforms

enable compliance by enforcing

allocation fund allocation rules,

automating tax reporting and providing

real-time dashboards that can be

reviewed by all stakeholders.

THE FUTURE OF EXPENSE

ALLOCATION, VENDOR

MANAGEMENT AND PAYMENT

EXECUTION FOR ALTERNATIVE

INVESTMENT MANAGERS IS

DIGITAL AND AUTOMATED.

Expense allocations have always been

viewed as a tedious and monotonous

back- office function. However, given the

everchanging investor, regulatory, market

and technological landscape where speed,

scale, transparency and efficiency are

key drivers, manual workflows are simply

not sustainable. End-to-end automation

through a unified platform that digitizes

vendor management, contract oversight,

invoice capture, allocation and payments is

one of today’s most important imperatives

for finance leaders at alternative

investment firms. The firms that adapt

to and embrace automated, rule-based

expense workflows are positioned for

success and scale, as they will mitigate

risk, enhance efficiency, and foster strong

investor relationships.


®

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www.fxspotstream.com

®

FXSpotStream provides a multibank FX streaming and a matching service supporting

steaming of pricing in FX Spot, Forwards, Swaps, NDF/NDS and Precious Metals Spot

and Swaps. Clients can access a GUI or single API from co-location sites in New York,

London and Tokyo and have the ability to communicate with all Liquidity Providing

banks connected to the FXSpotStream Service.


Elevate your trading experience

with IPC’s high-speed

CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS

• Low Latency connectivity service provider connecting key FX

Sites LD4, NY4, TY3 and CH2

• Trust in our award-winning managed colocation and hosting

service available in all key FX Liquidity centers

• A thriving community with 7000+ on net end points,

including FX Traders, FX Liquidity Providers and FX ECN’s

• Enjoy peace of mind with our proactive monitoring and

support

• Now certified as AWS Direct Connect, Azure Express Route

and Google Cloud Interconnect partner

Learn

more

© Copyright 2025 IPC Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. The IPC, IQ/MAX, Unigy, Blue Wave and Connexus names and logos are trademarks of IPC

Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owner. Specifications and programs are subject to change without notice.


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