After pulling the plug on the Atriax multi-bank foreign exchange trading platform late last week, Citibank has succumbed to customer pressure and signed up to State Street's FX Connect service as a liquidity provider.
Richard Moore, head of Global Foreign Exchange for Citibank, says: "Several of Citibank's key investor clients who deal on the FX Connect platform have expressed their desire for a dealing relationship with us through this channel. This has been the driving force in our decision to offer liquidity through FX Connect."
Simon Wilson-Taylor, head of Global Link at State Street says the inclusion of Citibank means that FX Connect is now able to meet its clients' total needs for access to all their preferred counterparty banks. A total of 33 banks currently provide prices through the State Street portal.
Deutsche Bank, a partner with Citi and JPMorgan Chase in the failed Atriax venture, undertook the first live trades on FX Connect when the platform went live in 2000.
Citi has also agreed to direct liqudity to FXall, the rival bank-backed corporate currency portal which emerged victorious when merger talks with Atriax stalled. Deutsche too is providing liquidity to FXall. Neither bank has yet to follow erstwhile Atriax partner JP Morgan and become a stakeholder in the portal.