Metaquotes recently integrated its MT5 platform with CitiFX Pro meaning that now MT5 brokers would be able to easily plug into Citi's Liquidity (pending an agreement with Citi of course) and it was a good chance to catch up with Sanjay Madgavkar CitiFX Pro's Global Head:
Q: Please give some background about CitiFX Pro's current status in the forex market. if possible volumes, clients, directions you are taking etc
CitiFX Pro will have its 4th anniversary at the end of March. During this period we have expanded from just a US presence to a presence in several countries in Asia and Europe. Our offering is not really a retail offering - for instance, our average deposit is ~$100,000 compared to the typical retail broker which has an average deposit size of approximately $3,000-5,000. We are focused at the present time on launching TradeStream, our product for Small and Mid Sized Institutional Clients. TradeStream offers liquidity sourced from a range of liquidity providers which results in extremely tight pricing and deep liquidity. We will also soon launch a new MT4 offering using TradeStream liquidity for high volume clients.
Q: Where is CitiFX Pro now amid the latest regulatory changes - is it good or bad for Citi?
The recent regulations in the US are welcome as it creates a more reasonable level of leverage - which we had voluntarily applied anyway - among various other measures. It also offers an even playing field to all providers. We are the only major bank in this sphere which also gives us a unique place in the market. Overall, I would say the regulatory changes are good for Citi and good for the market overall.
Q: What is the deal with MT5 and Metaquotes - they developed the bridge for you meaning you will offer MT5 to your clients or brokers can plug-in to your liquidity or both?
The new Metaquotes gateway allows MT5 brokers to receive liquidity from CitiFX Pro without any custom integration work. Brokers will, of course, need to open an account with us and be subject to our account opening requirements. The bridge/ gateway has been developed by Meta and Citi in order to create a seamless, integrated offering to brokers that deploy MT5 technology. We are very excited to offer our great pricing and deep liquidity to Meta 5 brokers.
Q: What is upcoming for Citi in terms of technology, perhaps positioning in new jurisdictions?
CitiFX Pro is planning to offer products suited for both experienced individual traders as well as a new platform for small institutional clients such as brokers, hedge funds and money managers. The product will provide connectivity via API as well as via Velocity, Citi's flagship Trading Platform .
Q: Anything new on technology? There was a rumour Citi was about to launch its own proprietary fx trading platform - any truth in that?
You may be referring to our intention of providing Velocity, our flagship institutional platform, to our small institutional client base. Other than that, we will also have TradeStream users access pricing via the Meta interface and via FIX API. An important feature of the TradeStream offering is the focus on lower latency which is important for sophisticated, active traders - particular users of the FIX API.
Q: Anything else you'd like to share?
CitiFX Pro is soon going to complete its fourth year. We are now active in a particular niche - aimed at the top end of the individual trader market and the small institutional segment as well. We are developing state of the art products to ensure the needs of these clients are met and we intend to compete and expand in this space over the next few years. This is a growing, important segment of the FX market and I'd like to see Citi lead this space in a couple of years.
