RBS agrees, algorithmic SEF aggregation key to servicing clients


An increasing number of savvy banks are concurring with our long-held position, and with the results of our SEF survey that Single Dealer Platforms should provide Algorithmic SEF aggregation, to enable clients to easily access fragmented liquidity for cleared products across various SEFs and other execution venues.

The latest to publically articulate this position being no less than Tim Carrington, the Global Head of FX at RBS, in an article in Risk.Net.

“We think this is the future,” says Tim Carrington, global head of foreign exchange at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in London. “In a world where more trading is done electronically and bid/offer spreads are compressed, dealers will be less able to differentiate themselves on price, and will instead have to focus on providing their clients with effective, convenient access to the market. Algorithmic execution, across all asset classes, is going to be a crucial part of that proposition.”

StreamBase Survey: FX Trading and Technology Trends in 2011


Great survey from Streambase, showing how buy and sell firms are using CEP technology within their FX business.

As expected, for buyside firms the key is to generate Alpha seeking strategies (looking for trading opportunities), whilst for sell side firms, it’s all about managing the resulting risk, through smart order routing.

It’s also interesting to see that in terms of execution, 55% of respondents executed their trades through Single Dealer Platforms, compared to 44% who used multi-Dealer Platforms.

full report here (you may be required to register with Streambase)

Progress expands single bank platform FX connectivity


Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS), a leading independent enterprise software provider that enables companies to be operationally responsive, today announced that it has expanded its Foreign Exchange (FX) connectivity adaptors for the Progress Apama Capital Markets Framework.

The Apama platform now connects to a much wider range of single bank FX platforms (or portals) as well as a broader spectrum of FX liquidity sources, including electronic communications networks (ECNs) and inter-dealer markets. These adaptors are accessible from all Apama Solution Accelerators, including algorithmic trading and FX aggregation.

Read more at Finextra