Retail platforms: ABN Amro enters UK retail market

Just over a year on from the initial launch of its marketindex platform in Germany (see Euromoney July 2006), ABN Amro has decided to enter the highly competitive UK retail market. The bank launched marketindex, which is white-labelled from Oanda, in mid-September. The platform provides streaming two-way prices in various currencies, equity indices, commodities and bonds. For legal reasons, these are designated as contracts for difference (CFDs), although in reality there is very little difference from trading the underlying cash products. ABN Amro will act as counterparty to all trades, although all prices are sources directly from Oanda.