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| Front (l–r): Fabian Shey (UBS), Zar Amrolia (Deutsche) and Ivan Ritossa (Barclays). Back (l–r): Martin Wiedmann (Credit Suisse) and Anil Prasad (Citi) |
THE MOVE TOWARDS foreign exchange markets becoming fully electronic is set to accelerate as global banks strive to create huge liquidity pools to boost revenue growth. It is a popular strategy in an asset class that offers banks, in capital terms at least, the biggest bang for their buck, but in the short term the ensuing price war could stunt future earnings. Yet it needn’t be that way – for those banks that can gather the biggest pools and then use the information flows effectively, the currency business could become the jewel in their global markets crown. In 2009, banks were always going to struggle to repeat the record revenues of the previous year when market dislocation, reduced liquidity and wider spreads proved to be a boon for the major players.