GL Trade, a provider of integrated multi-asset solutions for financial institutions, has launched its front office FX trading solution for spot FX. GL Trade now connects to Baxter-FX, FXCM Pro, Hotspot FXi, and FXMarketSpace.

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FXMarketSpace, the centrally cleared, global foreign exchange (FX) trading platform, has launched FXSettle, a settlement solution that securely routes trades dealt on FXMarketSpace directly to the customer’s bank or agent for settlement. Live for the past two months, FXSettle is currently available through two global settlement banks, with another in the process of becoming live. FXMarketSpace is a joint venture between Reuters and futures exchange operator CME Group.

Standard Chartered Bank is now offering the ability to trade foreign exchange via its application programming interface (API), providing FIX connectivity with introductory access to the 360T (TEX) portal.

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Standard Chartered Bank is now offering the ability to trade foreign exchange via its application programming interface (API), providing FIX connectivity (Financial Information eXchange) with introductory access to 360T (TEX).

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FXall, the foreign exchange platform, has signed a distribution agreement with Investment Technology Group (ITG) which will enable ITG clients to trade foreign exchange through FXall’s FX trading solution. Initially, ITG will connect FXall’s relationship-trading platform into its order management system, Macgregor XIP, and execution management system, Triton.

Bob Gasser, chief executive officer of ITG, says: “Multi-asset class trading is becoming increasingly important to our clients and this agreement with FXall allows us to provide them with access to the growing foreign exchange market.”

Bolsa De Mercadorias & Futuros (BM&F) says in a joint initiative with the Brazilian Federation of Banks and the Central Bank of Brazil, it is launching a project to introduce electronic trading for the spot US dollar market to institutions authorised to trade in the foreign exchange market. BM&F believes that implementing this initiative for the trading of both the spot US dollar and currency-based derivatives in a single environment, guaranteed by central counterparty systems managed by the same institution, will improve efficiency and facilitate the execution of arbitrage and hedge transactions by investors. Trading of the spot US dollar market on the new BM&F electronic platform will begin in Q2 2008.

While the exact timing and speed of the potential vendor consolidation as a result of M&A manoeuvres largely depends on the sectors of the market under consideration, a tougher business environment may well be the catalyst for this renewed corporate activity. 2008 may first be characterised by a lull, before a rapid intensification in merger activity during the rest of the year and into 2009.

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FXall, the foreign exchange platform, has reported record annual trading volumes of over $13.4 trillion in 2007. Trading activity highlights include: volumes increase 37 per cent year-on-year; daily volume surpasses $98 billion in the fourth quarter; growth in trading volumes continues to be driven by new client activity, in particular from the investment community, which now accounts for more than 50 per cent of volume traded over FXall.

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Man Financial has established a division for electronic trading of foreign exchange. Man FX Clear LLC will provide both electronic foreign exchange execution and clearing services, replicating, in many ways Refco’s business model. FX Clear LLC expects to be up and running by mid December 2005.