Citi is to establish an electronic foreign exchange (FX) pricing and trading engine in Singapore to boost liquidity in the region.
Supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the electronic platform will boost the development of Singapore as an Asian liquidity hub for the region.
The engine, built in-house by Citi, includes a proprietary pricing and hedging algorithm, through which clients can deal.
Citi currently operates this trading infrastructure in London, New York and Tokyo. Singapore will become the fourth location from which prices are distributed to clients.
The engine is expected to go live in Q4 2019.
Stuart Staley, Asia Pacific head of markets and securities services at Citi, commented: “The expansion of our FX trading engine will also lead to a vast improvement in latency for our clients in Singapore and across much of Asia Pacific, who prior to this would connect via Tokyo or one of our trading engines outside of the region.”
He added: “With Asia Pacific expected to attract a larger share of global investment flows, this initiative will improve price transparency and facilitate more efficient price discovery in the region’s time zone.”
Alan Yeo, head of financial markets development at MAS, said: “Citi’s plans to expand its global FX pricing and trading engine to Singapore to better service its clients in the region are very much in line with MAS’ strategic industry initiative to enhance FX e-trading market infrastructure to support regional growth.”
