Under pressure from corporate customers, Australia's leading banks have joined forces to develop a multi-bank treasury portal for the online distribution of wholesale financial products and services.
Under the agreement, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation are to establish an independent company which will operate and manage the multi-contributor, multi-product platform to be known as AusMarkets.com.
The multi-bank portal has been set up in response to growing pressure from corporate clients for aggregated information for the efficient conduct of treasury operations. The idea is to provide large corporates with an efficient price comparison and information resource.
The joint venture partners say AusMarkets.com will provide large institutional and corporate clients with a single access point for transacting wholesale financial market products. The portal will also deliver information and risk management content such as research, news, rates and portfolio analytics.
While the initial shareholders will be the four major Australian banks, it is intended to open the platform to other market participants and other territories shortly after launch.
Slated for roll out sometime in 2001, the initial focus of product delivery will be on money market and debt securities, says the founders. This will be followed by a full suite of interest rate derivatives and foreign exchange products.