The Asian currencies are Chinese renminbi, Korean won, Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, Philippine peso and Taiwan dollar. Quotes will be for one-month maturities and the fixing protocol will use the same conventions as the voice market.
According to Dave Rutter, deputy chief executive of Icap Electronic Broking, the decision to explore the viability of electronic NDFs predates the company’s acquisition of EBS, but it was felt that the market was not ready for such a move until now. “The NDF market is maturing, and with this initiative we are responding to client demand for the certainty of trade, liquidity and transparency that can best be provided via the EBS platform. These NDFs will be available to EBS clients through the same channels as Icap’s existing spot FX product offering,” he says.
Benoit de Vitry, global head of commodities and emerging markets at Barclays Capital, one of the platform’s pilot banks, also believes that the time is right for such a move: “As emerging markets volumes continue to grow there is an increasing appetite for electronic trading in NDF currencies.”
Initially, around 50 banks will be connected to the platform.