Electronic FX broker EBS has launched its EBS Prime service to provide smaller financial firms in both established and emerging financial markets with access to spot prices from its partner banks.
The new service - which was piloted at Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and The Royal Bank of Scotland - gives banks that want to be part of the professional FX trading community access to liquidity through the vendor's electronic FX spot broking system, EBS Spot.
EBS claims that many of the 50,000+ firms in the world that hold banking licences wish to trade on the best spot FX prices but are limited by credit. The Prime service enables customers to use the credit of an approved EBS Prime bank in order to trade on the spot prices.
EBS says it expects the service to bring banks for which FX is not a core business into the global FX market by giving them access to trade on better spot FX prices.
Jack Jeffery, CEO, EBS, states: "This is about providing an orderly market for the professional FX trading community.
"We believe EBS Prime is a major step to creating a level playing field for smaller banks that would like to be part of a wider community, with access to greater liquidity and better rates."
EBS Prime customers contract directly with a partner bank and negotiate and pay a fee to that bank, typically in the form of a spread added to the dealt price on the customer's deal ticket. Customers also pay a standard spot transaction brokerage fee to EBS.