Special Features - Foreign Exchange: Keeping Pace in an Explosive Market
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Foreign Exchange:  Keeping Pace in an Explosive Market
 

  

The FX market is by far the largest marketplace in the world.  With exponential growth year on year, an average daily trading volume of $5 billion in 1977 has risen to an estimated $2.9 trillion for April 2007 (‘The FX Marketplace: Trends, Opportunities and Challenges’, GT News)  In the last three years alone, trading volumes have increased more than 38 percent, and this is a trend that looks set to continue.

 
Recent transformations in the market have re-vamped FX trading practices, presenting banks with new challenges and opportunities.  FX is now an asset class in its own right. Hedge funds are increasingly interested in FX as an alternative to fixed income, and equity and hedge fund activity has been a driving force for innovation in the market.  Significant rises in electronic and algorithmic trading have led to the disappearance of traditional wholesale traders.
 
To stay competitive in this environment, banks need to find a way to reduce transaction costs.  Real-time, high-capacity solutions are becoming essential for processing ever-increasing trading volumes.  This, together with an increased focus on electronic trading and the quest for faster execution of secured settlements, is calling for banks to re-examine their internal systems.
 
Download the white paper ‘Foreign Exchange: Keeping Pace In An Explosive Market’