Japan's Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM) has become the first bank in Asia to sign up to EBS' spot liquidity service, Prime.
Electronic FX broker EBS said last week it was extending its Prime service to Asia following "significant" take up of the system in Europe and the US since it was launched in May last year.
The service enables smaller financial firms to access spot prices from EBS Prime banks through the vendor's electronic FX spot broking system, EBS Spot. EBS says BTM will now be able to offer direct access to the FX rates and liquidity on its spot dealing system to regional banks and other professional FX traders from across Japan and Asia.
Kazuhiro Ooki, head of Japan sales, EBS, says: "This is a new way for more Japanese and Asian banks to take a direct role in the true interbank spot FX market.... We believe this will bring more banks in Japan and the Asia region to the FX trading community on EBS, to gain access to better prices and liquidity."
BTM says the introduction of the EBS Prime system could also enhance the overall foreign exchange market in Tokyo.