NEX (NXG.L), a financial technology company at the centre of the global markets, announces that it has partnered with China Foreign Exchange TradeSystem (CFETS), China’s interbank market trading platform and infrastructure provider, to launch ‘CFETS FX2017’ (“FX2017”), a next-generation trading platform for the Chinese foreign exchange (FX) market.
Having selected NEX to deliver the underlying technology for the new services in June 2016, CFETS launched the first phase of FX2017 with a central limit order book (CLOB) platform for spot onshore Chinese renminbi (CNY) on 4 December 2017. An anonymous execution capability for the Chinese market, market participants will have access to a central pool of liquidity and a public reference point for spot CNY pricing.
CFETS went live with phase two of FX2017 on 5 February 2018, launching a next generation relationship-based platform for CNY trading of spot, forwards and swaps. Through this disclosed, bilateral trading model Liquidity Consumers (LCs) can choose from a full range of bank and non-bank Liquidity Providers (LPs) to access tailored executable streaming prices. On the first day of trading, 480 institutions logged on to the new platform with 307 institutions conducting deals. Inter-bank FX market turnover was US $62.8 billion. The average daily volume in the first week of trading was consistently high and the new platform remained robust and stable.
The launch of FX2017 is significant as it supports the expansion and evolution of the domestic renminbi market. The next-generation technology offers a multi-execution, low-latency environment that will encourage a sustainable and healthy ecosystem for its participants.
Leveraging the underlying technology behind NEX Markets’ EBS platforms, NEX supported the development of FX2017 leveraging its established and robust infrastructure capabilities, unique seamless and integrated trading technology, proven innovation and development of products, and deep knowledge of international markets.
Madam Zhang Yi, President of CFETS, said: “The launch of FX2017 is a major upgrade of our financial trading infrastructure. It effectively ensures the safe, stable and efficient operation of the inter-bank foreign exchange market, enforcing the pricing power of the domestic Chinese market and opening it up to the global foreign exchange market.”
Michael Spencer, Group Chief Executive Officer of NEX, said: “NEX has a strong track record of innovation in financial markets technology and I am pleased that we have been able to work with our longstanding partners CFETS, to launch a public market for CNY spot FX and a next generation disclosed trading platform for CNY spot, forwards and swaps. This is a significant milestone in the development of the domestic FX market, and we will continue to support our CFETS partners as they roll-out further phases and we explore further partnership opportunities in the future.”
Seth Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of NEX Markets, said: “I’m extremely proud that NEX Markets has been able to leverage our trading technology expertise to jointly develop FX2017 with CFETS. As a result, the Chinese FX market now has access to multiple execution options in a robust and low latency environment. The launch of this new central limit order book platform in mainland China, will play a fundamental role in providing a public reference point for spot CNY pricing in the domestic FX market.”