Consortium platforms: The politics of multi-bank sites

Much as some might like to, banks can’t uninvent the internet. Nor is there any clear sign that they know what to do with it. For a variety of motives, both obvious and obscure, they have begun entering into platform consortia with rivals. That’s problem enough and costly. Worse, though, is when a platform seems to be biting the hands that feed it. Antony Currie reports

As he switches back from his other call, the banker curses. “That was a call about exactly what you’re ringing up to discuss,” he tells Euromoney. “Consortia platforms. They are the single biggest bloody headache of the job.” He should know. As the head of e-commerce strategy at a major European investment bank, he’s joined a few.

It turns out the call was from a peer at another institution, and the two had been part of an OTC derivatives consortium that never saw the light of day.

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