Royal Bank of Scotland has joined State Street's FX Connect multi-bank foreign exchange dealing system. The Scottish bank will also be the first financial institution to offer futures trading and clearing over the Global Link network.
Global Link is State Street's central platform for linking with global investment manager clients. The private network, currently used by 262 asset management companies, including 15 of the world's 20 largest, offers market research, analytics and trade execution services for equities, foreign-exchange and fixed income. State Street claims Global Link's users, spanning 21 countries, collectively manage over half of the world's professionally managed cross-border assets.
FX Connect, the foreign exchange execution element of Global Link currently offers prices from 22 banks, respresenting 40% of the total sell side market's liqudity, says State Street.
Brian Crowe, managing director, Royal Bank of Scotland, financial markets, says the decision to join Global Link is part of a broader strategy to serve clients through whichever trading platform they choose and to diversify the distribution of its futures and FX trading products.