According to the company, Fenics dealFX provides online pricing and trading capabilities while allowing banks to create their own web front-ends, use their internal option analytics and integrate the system with other existing internal processing systems and feeds.
Banks do not want to offer off-the-shelf e-commerce solutions to their end-users, commented Steve McMillan, senior managing director for Europe at GFI. They want to create a unique client experience that differentiates them from their competitors, and there is plenty of scope for this in a complex market such as FX options.
The move to online FX options trading for banks and their institutional clients comes as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) reports that FX options are the fastest growing part of the global currency derivatives market. The bank’s latest triennial survey noted that FX option turnover grew 95% between 2001 and 2004, outpacing the overall 51% growth in foreign exchange derivatives contracts.
