Thomson Reuters FX volumes fall 7% in June

Thomson Reuters says the average amount traded daily on its main spot platforms – Thomson Reuters Dealing, Matching and Reuters Trading for FX – dropped to $143 billion last month. That was down 7 % on May and 9.5% lower than June 2011.

Although Thomson Reuters maintained its place as the world’s leading FX platform by volume, the drop was at odds with other main trading venues, which revealed increased activity in June, as the volatility that sparked currency markets back to life after the first round of Greek elections in May continued.

Thomson Reuters’ main rival EBS and also CME Group announced rising volumes last month.

Meanwhile,FXall – the platform that Thomson Reuters on Monday announced it would buy in a $643 million deal – revealed record volumes in June.

As reported by EuromoneyFXNews, the takeover is seen as complementary, given that Thomson Reuters services mainly banking clients, while FXall is the world’s leading FX multi-dealer platform with non-financial corporates and asset managers.

Gerald Segal, CEO of the online analysis firm LeapRate, says the down month at Thomson Reuters helps make more sense of the fact the firm paid such a premium to acquire FXall.

The company paid $22 a share for the acquisition, $10 above FXall’s $12 listing price after its initial public offering in February.

“Thomson Reuters seeks not to just maintain its lead in the forex ECN world but also to jump-start growth,” says Segal.