UBS has strengthened its position as a leader in FX trading technology by combining scale, innovation and execution quality, delivering reliable liquidity and advanced tools across spot, derivatives and precious metals markets – building on its 2024 win for the same category.
UBS’s FX franchise is anchored by four principles – agility, resilience, scalability and holistic coverage – which inform the development of its electronic trading platforms and infrastructure. The result is a suite of capabilities that spans spot FX, precious metals, non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), short-term interest rate (STIR) products and options. Execution is supported by algorithmic strategies and smart order routing, while the flagship single-dealer platform Neo provides a hub for electronic trading, analytics, and pre- and post-trade tools.
Technology underpins the bank’s ability to maintain strong market share in spot FX, consistently above 12% throughout the past year. During a period of heightened volatility in April 2025, the bank’s average daily volumes rose nearly 40% year-on-year, extending market share in developed and emerging-market (EM) currencies.
This consistency extends across products. In STIR, UBS has refined its risk-based skewing models to keep spreads competitive even as G10 swap margins compress. In FX options, Neo offers liquidity in over 350 payoffs across more than 500 currency pairs, supported by straight-through electronic pricing and execution.
Award-winning Neo
Neo remains central to UBS’s technology strategy. Initially launched as a multi-asset single-dealer platform, it has become an award-winning hub for FX options, spot and derivatives. In the options business, Neo has enabled UBS to rank consistently in the top-three dealers globally, with particular strength in EM options, where the bank has achieved double-digit market shares.
Recognised by Euromoney in 2024 as the world’s best single-dealer platform, Neo offers clients integrated access, real-time analytics and efficient execution. The platform integrates analytics, pre-trade modelling and execution tools. Recent upgrades have included improved straight-through processing, new order types and enhanced usability. Clients now execute a broader range of trades on-platform, with minimal manual intervention.
Performance improvements in execution speed have been another priority. UBS has invested in lowering latency in its order acceptance and market data distribution systems. Distribution times between New York and Tokyo were cut to below 70 milliseconds, improving pricing accuracy. Across more than 1,500 API connections, order acceptance times fell from one millisecond to as low as 0.03 milliseconds, with tail-end latency improving more than 200-fold.
At the same time, UBS has scaled its streaming liquidity, raising available sizes across major pairs, including AUD/USD and NZD/USD, USD/CNH and USD/HKD, and USD/MXN. In MENA, streaming sizes in AED and SAR surged in 2024, contributing to record average daily volumes in April 2025.
Volumes across electronic channels continue to rise, with clients citing consistent spreads, reliable execution and seamless platform integration as differentiators
Beyond spot FX, UBS has introduced innovations in precious metals, including electronic liquidity for platinum and palladium in loco London, enabling new options structures tied to benchmark auctions. In NDFs, the firm has consolidated its market position with significant year-on-year growth, holding leading shares in several Asian pairs and more than doubling electronic daily volumes in 2024.
Algorithmic execution has also evolved. The launch of Float Plus provided clients with differentiated access to UBS’s principal franchise while minimising market impact. Meanwhile, the integration of Credit Suisse’s Cobra order book into NeoFX has reinforced UBS’s scalability.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded across UBS’s trading technology. AI tools support trade entry, risk modelling and analytics, while initiatives like the in-house AI Kettle competition have accelerated the development of predictive tools such as real-time FX volume forecasting.
This internal focus is supported by client adoption: volumes across electronic channels continue to rise, with clients citing consistent spreads, reliable execution and seamless platform integration as differentiators.
UBS’s FX technology strategy is focused on further integration, automation and product development. Priorities include extending electronic execution into FX futures, expanding algorithmic pricing into previously voice-dominated markets and continuing to embed AI into trading workflows.
By combining scale, innovation and resilience, UBS has built a market-leading trading technology franchise that responds to client demand for speed, reliability and depth of liquidity.
