Lori Mirek, chief executive officer of Currenex, says the move to electronic trading is giving large corporations and asset managers an opportunity to reshape the foreign exchange markets in ways that will greatly reduce their costs and risks.
Speaking at a conference in New York, Mirek says large corporations and asset managers are increasingly sophisticated in their approach to utilising economies of the Internet.
"Electronic foreign exchange trading is a natural extension of their efforts to automate processes like billing and record keeping to reduce costs and make operations more efficient and profitable," she says. "Early adopters are reaping significant competitive cost advantage and have an opportunity to ensure that these electronic markets evolve in a direction that helps companies create and protect shareholder value."
Mirek believes independent platforms such as Currenex's FXtrades provide the buy-side and the sell-side with a neutral and open environment where they are encouraged to strengthen relationships and build innovative approaches to executing foreign exchange transactions.
She cites five key trends in the market that underscore the evolution of e-FX:
* Sell-side to buy-side automation;
* corporate internal trading;
* customer bank automation;
* prime brokerage automation; and
* evolution toward a more 'exchange-like' trading environment.
Currenex's Internet-based service, FXtrades, is the first operational online currency exchange open to institutional buyers and sellers worldwide. It is soon to face competition from rival bank-backed platforms such as FXall and Atriax.