Information giant Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) kicked off 2018 on a positive note. The company’s foreign exchange business achieved its highest ever recorded Fx trading volumes in January. This followed an increase in the number of buy-side clients and liquidity providers to its enhanced Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF), post-MiFID II implementation.
The average daily volumes (ADV) of its foreign exchange products totalled $432.1 billion – a 10.2 percent increase month-over-month from $392 billion. Additionally, the volumes are 26.3 percent higher year-over-year in comparison with the $342 billion of January 2017. The volumes include Thomson Reuters Matching and FXall platform in all transaction types including the spot, forwards, swaps options and non-deliverable forwards (NDF). The record-setting volume during the month was characterised by multiple factors across the global markets, including the interest rate and fiscal policy speculation in the US and European markets, which sparked the volatility.
The Fx spot volume during the month averaged $107 billion daily – a notable increase from $88 billion or a 22.7 percent rise compared to December 2017 and 18.7 percent higher year-over-year compared to $91 billion in January 2017. Other Fx products, including forwards, swaps, options and NDFs, averaged $325 billion, a 7 percent increase month-over-month from $304 billion in December 2017. The latest performance is in line with industry trends which saw most of the exchanges and brokerage houses reporting a massive upswing in volumes in January.
Commenting on the record volumes in Fx business, Neill Penney, co-head of Trading, Thomson Reuters said:
Following preparation for and then implementation of one of the most complex regulatory initiatives in a generation, our success over the last month reflects the value we place in listening to our clients and ensuring our solutions meet their MiFID II needs. As the market evolves, we are committed to making additional enhancements across our trading businesses, including enriched analytics and algo trading capabilities.
The company completed enhancements to its MTF in July 2017 by partnering with Tradeweb for APA services that ensure clients are fully compliant with the MiFID II regulations that kicked in on 3 January this year. The enhancements enable Thomson Reuters to continue support for FX forwards, swaps, NDFs and options trading on FXall as well as support for swaps trading on Thomson Reuters Matching.
