Citi now offers streaming non-deliverable forward (NDF) pricing on its trading platform, Velocity. NDFs in 14 currencies are available including BRL, CNY, INR, RUB and TWD. The move is said to have been well received by the bank’s customer base.
Most platforms have had NDF pricing for a while, but the move from request-for-quote (RFQ) to streaming was held up by difficulties in automating price creation and the more prosaic problem of the standardization of confirmations. Isda and the Emerging Markets Traders Association have gradually solved the legal problems, while the larger banks have solved the e-pricing. Citi now joins Deutsche, UBS and Barclays in the provision of NDF streaming. RBS, currently offering NDFs by RFQ, also intends to stream prices from January.