London’s Mandarin Oriental played host on Thursday to the second successful Euromoney Foreign Exchange Awards, with more than 200 of the industry’s most senior leaders and practitioners gathering for an exceptional evening to celebrate, recognise and reward the highest achievements across the FX market during the past year.

CME Group has long been recognized as the largest centralized FX venue in North America, offering a market-leading range of FX products and client-centric services, while the group’s global footprint led to it recently being recognised by the Bank for International Settlements as the largest centralized FX venue in the world.

Banco Santander has seen the expansion and success of its FX business extend into Argentina over the review period. Significant developments include its developing non-deliverable forwards (NDF) currency solutions, enabling clients to trade Latam currencies offshore while maintaining onshore delivery. This expansion is driven by growing trade corridors between Asia and Latam and currency rebalancing trends.

Through the breadth of its market liquidity, product scale and global footprint, UBS has built a strong reputation as the partner of choice for its institutional, retail, corporate and wealth management client base. Most recently, UBS has been evolving its FX trading platform based on four key principles: agility, resilience, scalability and comprehensiveness. The result of this sustained focus has been the development of new trading capabilities, such as market-making on firm trading venues and developing access to streaming swap liquidity. UBS has also invested heavily in pre- and post-trade analytics to deliver market insights and improve execution outcomes for clients as part of its ‘FX Engine Room’ offering of sales and analytical toolkits. As of 2024, across the bank’s various FX businesses, it daily trades over $125 billion electronically with more than 2,500 clients across the globe.

Stanbic Bank Kenya’s strategic initiatives highlight its ability to blend technological advancements with tailored financial solutions, addressing complex market needs while enhancing client autonomy. The bank’s contributions to major corporate transactions further highlight its pivotal position in shaping the financial landscape in Kenya.

Over the past year, 360T has made significant progress in transforming the FX swaps trading landscape, driven by strategic investments in its Swaps User Network (SUN). One of the most notable advancements was the launch of streaming mid liquidity via application programming interface (API), enabling banks to trade FX swaps at the market midpoint through automated processes – an industry first, paving the way for auto-hedging, aggregation and even algorithmic execution. The introduction of this feature has enhanced banks' ability to better serve their clients while also improving their own trading operations.

UBS expanded its FX sales capabilities by leveraging cutting-edge tools and platforms to enhance operational efficiency and client engagement.

JPMorgan has continued to demonstrate innovation and growth in FX options by enhancing product offerings, expanding platform integrations and strengthening client engagement. The results speak for themselves – JPMorgan’s market share for FX options direct client execution rose by 7% year-on-year.

NatWest Markets (NWM) is a UK franchise offering a leading range of FX services to both its local and global client bases.

Banco Popular Dominicano (BPD) is the largest private bank in the Dominican Republic, recognized as a leader in the FX market with a 21% market share of USD/DOP transactions as of May 2024. During the review period, the bank has seen significant growth in FX derivatives, particularly in non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) for the USD/DOP pair, driven by increasing demand from its clients seeking to hedge their FX positions. BPD offers both NDFs and full-delivery forwards of up to 180 days in USD/DOP and EUR/USD, catering to large corporate clients, including those in the beverage and manufacturing industries.

SmartTrade Technologies' order management system (OMS) has been adopted by 80% of its 70+ clients, showcasing strong market confidence in its offering. During the review period, smartTrade introduced several strategic enhancements to its OMS. Its continuous product innovation to further enhance trading efficiency has been the main source of new client acquisitions over the past year.

UBS has increased its investment and development of leading FX technology builds notably over the past three years, especially since its recent acquisition of Credit Suisse, with a number of significant innovations having been brought to market this year.

Digital Vega has transformed from a simple aggregator of vanilla bank liquidity into a leading provider of FX options-related products and services to banks and clients globally. This evolution has been driven by continuous innovation, strategic partnerships and a steadfast commitment to delivering client excellence.

Since its inception in 2018, FairXchange’s Horizon platform has helped FX businesses navigate operational complexities through AI-driven data analytics. Horizon's capabilities have expanded considerably with the recent integration of Sentinel, a powerful AI alerting tool that enhances real-time monitoring and response.

Since its launch in 2014, Bank of America’s (BofA) transactional FX business has quickly risen to become one of the top three global players. This success reflects the bank's strategic vision, innovative products and global reach, enabling it to secure a strong market position and stand out in the competitive FX industry.

A dominant player in the Omani market, Bank Muscat offers comprehensive FX payment solutions to both corporate and individual clients, facilitating remittances and trade-related payments in 29 currencies.

TD Securities has implemented comprehensive global and regional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies across the business, with the FX team ensuring that it also has a targeted approach.

Global fintech oneZero Financial Systems aims to continuously improve the liquidity-neutral eco-system that it developed on behalf of its clients. Its primary goal is to empower clients with transparency throughout the entire trade lifecycle, including throughout the partner framework that allows oneZero clients to access value-added services.

CME Group’s EBS has been established three decades in the market as a primary venue for reliable, anonymous liquidity and price discovery in cash FX. During the review period, CME further pushed EBS’s value proposition by launching several new initiatives.

Deutsche Bank has continued to deliver solid growth in its western Europe FX business as demonstrated by the rapid adoption of its new offerings among the European client base.

HSBC has established itself as a leader in the corporate foreign exchange space by continuously developing innovative solutions. The bank provides liquidity across a range of channels and has consistently ranked in the top three on external platforms with a heavy corporate presence.

TP ICAP has been making significant progress in transitioning from traditional voice broking to a more integrated electronic and voice broking model. The company’s multi-asset liquidity platform, Fusion, has been at the forefront of this evolution, especially since the launch of its FX options platform, FXOhub in 2020. Since the platform's inception, TP ICAP has seen an impressive increase in volumes and market share in FX options. From being ranked fourth or fifth, the firm has climbed to a consistent second place, occasionally securing the top spot.

Murex's 2024 FX options strategy focused on meeting the trading needs of all FX options desks – from regional institutions to leading global banks. Its key achievements include scaling up real-time portfolio management, expanding its new stochastic local volatility (SLV) model, and supporting digital transformation through new application programming interfaces (API).

HSBC continues to develop its market-leading franchise in global non-deliverable forwards (NDF). With operations now spanning 25 key NDF jurisdictions, including Brazil, Taiwan and Korea, coupled with a sales presence in nearly 50 locations and dedicated e-FX sales teams, HSBC provides clients with market colour in local market dynamics.

NatWest Markets (NWM) treats its FX Prime Brokerage (FXPB) business as a distinct growth focus as opposed to an ancillary service, with significant investment in the business to ensure it can provide high-touch, high-service offerings. Combining the freedom of having a proprietary platform with an appetite for developing client solutions has resulted in a suite of solutions that are used for different client types. While most FXPB banks use the market standard FXPB agreement, NWM has developed six distinct FXPB models. These models can be combined to address a broad selection of client types ranging from prop traders through to agency brokers and FX platforms.

Over the past 12 months, 4OTC has launched significant initiatives aimed at addressing connectivity issues caused by the fragmented nature of the FX market.

BBVA has maintained a strong presence in the Peruvian FX market, holding a leading role for the past six years.

Over the last year, LCH ForexClear has launched initiatives aimed at safeguarding clearing members’ interests and supporting general market and financial stability through its operations.

Euronext FX has made strides in cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace through a comprehensive approach to talent recruitment, development and retention. The venue has actively implemented inclusive hiring practices to attract and nurture a diverse workforce. This commitment is evident in Euronext FX’s gender equality initiatives, which saw the venue leverage strategic partnerships to empower women and build a diverse talent pipeline.

2024 has been a record-breaking year for FXSpotStream (FSS), setting new highs in all products including its offering in non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).