Interdealer ICAP has announced that it’s EBS FX trading unit has partnered with Thomson Reuters FX Matching to provide a blended feed of FX fixing prices for the Eikon platform. Benchmark fix pricing will be provided every 30 minutes for the EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, and CAD. The blended fixing replaces a previous methodology by Eikon where it calculated results based on the trading venue with the greatest Liquidity for each currency. The new calculation is expected to provide a more precise reference price for the benchmark fixing.
Thomson Reuters and EBS provide holistic view of FX markets with blended FX fixing on Thomson Reuters Eikon New blended 30-minute fixing brings together liquidity from both platforms to provide the most accurate picture of live-traded prices LONDON, NEW YORK, 18 February 2013 – EBS, ICAP's market-leading electronic FX business, and Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today announced that the sources for the Thomson Reuters and EBS 30-minute FX fixing will be blended via a proprietary algorithm to ensure all traded liquidity across Thomson Reuters Matching and EBS Market is used in the fixing calculations, providing maximum transparency to FX market participants. The new blended offering, which has been in effect since 14 January 2013, has been developed to promote greater market transparency across Thomson Reuters and EBS platforms, meeting increasing global demand for more timely and precise reference data based on real-time market transactions. Currently available via Thomson Reuters Eikon, the company's next-generation desktop for financial market professionals, the blended fixing brings together liquidity from both EBS and Thomson Reuters to provide the most accurate picture of live-traded prices. Previously the 30-minute fixed rates were based solely on the platform that was traditionally the primary liquidity pool in each currency. This new blended FX fixing will be available on the EBS Market later in 2013. "This collaboration between Thomson Reuters and EBS is a great example of the industry working together to improve the overall trading experience for the benefit of all market participants," said Phil Weisberg, global head of foreign exchange, Thomson Reuters. "By blending Thomson Reuters and EBS sources for our 30-minute FX fixings we are ensuring that maximum liquidity has been calculated within each currency fixing and therefore providing maximum transparency for the marketplace as a whole." "The FX industry is focused on ensuring a fair, robust and transparent marketplace and is continuously evolving and innovating to push this agenda forward over many fronts," said Gil Mandelzis, CEO, EBS. "This is another grass roots initiative that will improve current practices significantly for the benefit of all market participants. EBS is pleased to lead such changes, together with Thomson Reuters and in partnership with other market participants. The fixing services were initially created in 2006 upon the request of the Bank of England, following its retirement from the publication of FX rates. Daily benchmarking at 11am and 4pm GMT for GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, CAD and EUR were initially provided by both Thomson Reuters and EBS, and from March 2011 the services were expanded to deliver fixings every 30 minutes. Thomson Reuters Eikon is designed to provide an intuitive, next-generation solution for consuming realtime and historical data, connecting with the financial markets community and executing financial markets transactions across asset classes such as foreign exchange (FX), fixed income, commodities, equities and derivatives. It realizes Thomson Reuters vision for a financial markets desktop that is intelligent, simple and social. Driven by powerful search engine technology, Eikon carries real-time data, news, charts, insightful commentary, Analytics and trade execution tools through views that can be customized to individual user preferences and workflow. About EBS ICAP's award-winning electronic EBS business is at the heart of global spot FX trading and remains the core source of genuine, executable spot FX liquidity for professional trading counterparties in all market conditions. EBS delivers impartial and effective access to spot FX, precious metals and NDF traders globally, offering optimal price discovery and execution, and supports a wide range of FX trading strategies, as well as API and manual trading. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com
