When Cliff Lewis became chairman and chief executive of Currenex in January 2003, he signalled his intention of reinventing the company. It would no longer be simply a high-technology utility for the buy side but rather a broader foreign exchange marketplace run on a for-profits basis. Few at the time gave Lewis any real chance of success, especially as it was widely predicted that the multi-bank platform space was ripe for consolidation. This contraction of trading venues has yet to occur and it might be that Currenex’s sale revives the topic, at least as a debate even if not as a reality. What is clear is that with the sale of the company for $564 million in cash to State Street Corporation, Lewis’s early confidence in his ability to turn it around has been more than justified....
