This category was separated from cash execution last year because there was a clear distinction between forex trading platforms that offered spot, forwards and swaps execution from those that also offered portfolio-management services such as order upload functionality, netting and pre- and post-trade allocations.
This year that distinction is dwindling as more execution platforms add orders and allocations.
The strength of this year’s winner, Bank of New York, again lies largely in the post-trade services that it offers. “Based on the experience of all the platforms we are using, we feel BoNY is ahead of the pack,” says one custodial client of the bank, who also uses rival platforms. “We like the support BoNY gives us, the ease of operation on iFX Manager, and the platform’s Swift capabilities.”
iFX Manager is the only system demonstrated to Euromoney this year that enables clients to work a global order book with ease.
Once orders are uploaded into the system, either manually or automatically, any authorized trader can take one or more and execute them without confusion.
Alternatively, auto execution is possible as Bank of New York offers fixing too, though some clients are unable to take advantage of it because of the lack of development on the other systems that they use.
PMS Batch, the tool built to enable batch order uploads and downloads, has ceased to be a separate piece of software and has been integrated into iFX Manager in the past 12 months. “As a processing bank, we’re good at automating transaction flow,” says John Murray, vice-president and head of e-commerce, Europe, at Bank of New York. “Our focus is on STP and settlement above price discovery.”
In post-trade services, Bank of New York offers an excellent service called SafeSettle, which is the bank’s proprietary link to CLS, the forex clearing bank. The site lists summaries of transactions, with further information available through drilling down for more information. Soon it will also alert clients to events such as rejected trades.
Users can easily see on the site which transactions have failed, which have cleared successfully, which have been alleged by counterparties and so on. This site is all searchable and customizable and is used by back-office clients, risk managers and liquidity managers.
