Rabobank, the triple A-rated bank, has extended its role in global FX by becoming the latest EBS Prime bank. As an EBS Prime bank, Rabobank will be able to offer more banks and non-bank professional FX trading organisations access to the world's best FX liquidity pool on EBS.
The news comes as FX trading by new counterparties across new and emerging markets using EBS Prime now provides more than 14% of total EBS total USD 140 billion daily volume. Daily average trading volume for EBS Prime is now running at more than USD 18 billion (single count), up from USD 1 billion in November 2004.
EBS Prime is a relationship model for the spot FX market which enables leading FX banks to offer their unused credit to other banks and non-bank professional FX trading organisations including funds wishing to participate in the global FX market on EBS Spot. The prime bank can increase their fee income from FX, by charging for leasing their unused credit, while their customers get the optimum pricing and liquidity of trading directly, in the name of their prime bank in the EBS market.
Peter Plester, Rabobank's Head of Prime Brokerage, said: "Rabobank is in a unique position as the only AAA rated Prime Bank on EBS. As a result, our customers see the tightest prices and the deepest liquidity possible on the system. This gives them an exceptional advantage over their competitors.
"The EBS Prime model is the way forward for the global spot FX market, enabling us to deepen our relationships with our customers in an orderly market to help them, and to make better use of our strong credit."
David Rutter, Head of Global Sales, ICAP Electronic Broking, said: "The market has chosen EBS Prime as the perfect tool to facilitate additional FX trading in both developed and emerging markets.
"We firmly believe that liquidity goes where liquidity is, and by attracting yet more counterparties, and more diverse counterparties, Rabobank can facilitate more liquidity in the global FX marketplace to the benefit of all."
"One of the key value proposition of the banks is to be able to act as credit intermediaries, and it is a role they perform extremely well to facilitate an orderly FX market.
"EBS Prime preserves that role and ensures that the interbank market is not disintermediated in FX. We are delighted that Rabobank has joined the 19 other major global banks which share this vision."
Rabobank has been awarded the Triple A (AAA+) status by both Moodys and S&P ratings agencies, making it the only commercial bank in the world with such a status
There are now more than 160 EBS Prime customers using the service across 24 emerging and developed markets including Croatia, Russia, Poland, Israel, China and Korea, from both bank and non-bank professional FX trading segments using EBS Prime.
These customers have relationships with 21 EBS Prime banks, which include ABN AMRO, AIG, Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays Capital, Bear Stearns, Calyon, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Rabobank, RBS, SEB, Standard Chartered and Societe Generale.