Today's unveiling of the well-received fixed income trading service in Hong Kong is first of several launches to take place in the Asia Pacific region, which will include Singapore, Japan, Australia, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan this year.

With the Asia Pacific regional rollout, Reuters Trading for Fixed Income (RTFI) will allow banks and financial institutions in Asia the ability to trade fixed income securities over their Reuters desktop. RTFI currently features tradable prices from 12 leading fixed income banks with another eight banks expected to go live this year. Over the coming months, leading fixed income price makers are expected to add Asia-specific bonds and instruments to RTFI, bringing price takers a comprehensive service encompassing both international and national instruments.

"During the last 3 years we have seen exceptional growth for Fixed Income electronic trading in Asia. We see a substantial opportunity in delivering our technological capabilities to third-party financial institutions throughout the region, and think today's launch can further enhance the ease of electronic trading for our clients," said Mark Rechner, Head of E-Commerce Asia, Deutsche Bank.

Alex Hungate, Managing Director of Reuters Asia, commented: "Reuters is launching RTFI in Asia at an exciting time as fixed income experiences strong growth. With RTFI, financial professionals in Asia will be able to access a broad range of fixed income instruments, whether they trade local Asian Emerging Market debt or G3 denominated bonds."

Reuters Trading for Fixed Income allows price takers easy access to consolidated liquidity, currently offering them access to executable prices in over 15,000 instruments, including European Governments, US Treasuries, Corporates and Emerging Market debt, in 31 currencies across 30 countries. RTFI is available over Reuters 3000 Xtra, the company's flagship desktop which provides real-time news, data, analysis tools and high quality executable prices from leading global liquidity providers.

With its single sign-on, Reuters Trading for Fixed Income supports flexible trading models for both single dealer and multi dealer trading and allows portfolios and workspaces to be customised to facilitate quick decision making. In addition, it also provides access to clearly defined price classification - firm, indicative, closed, suspended - to indicate the trading quality of a price.