ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank look to have set a precedent with their moves into the retail foreign exchange market in 2006. Both did so in partnership with established retail FX platform providers. Market sources are now predicting that at least three top 20 FX banks will sign partnerships in the first half of 2007 to join them, with others following shortly after.
Gain Capital, CMC Markets, Saxo Bank and Oanda, which has already partnered with ABN Amro, all confirmed to Euromoney that they have had discussions with banks over the past few months: "Until last year none of the banks had dipped its toe in this market. Now that a few have taken the plunge, we are having many more discussions with large sell-side banks," says Mark Galant, chief executive of Gain. In a similar vein, Peter Cruddas, chairman and chief executive of CMC, admits talks have been held...
