FX technology provider for the retail and institutional sector, Integral, has announced that it has filed an application with the CFTC to launch a Swap Execution Facility (SEF). With the proposed launch of Integral SEF, the company joins a growing list of firms that have made similar applications to the CFTC and include TerraExchange, Bloomberg, State Street, and GFI. The launch of SEFs is based on firms creating platforms that meet Dodd-Frank requirements for credit monitoring, clearing, and trading of swaps.
According to Integral, the proposed SEF will offer a regulatory-compliant FX Trading Platform , that will include connections to Liquidity providers, clearing houses, and SDRs. Similar to other Integral cloud services, the SEF is being offered with no up-front costs, applying instead a commission based revenue structure. In addition, the product will support request for quote (RFQ) orders and integrate both regulated and non-regulated instruments on the platform. Integral also stated that Integral will take care of integration for liquidity providers while providing “onboarding and workflow solutions” for buy-side firms. The Integral SEF will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Integral Development Corp.
Overall, Integral aims to apply services and features available to traders and liquidity providers on its existing cloud based OTC FX trading platforms on a Dodd-Frank compliant SEF version. Echoing this target, Harpal Sandhu, CEO of Integral stated in the company’s prepared announcement that “Over two decades, Integral has solved some of the toughest technology problems in capital markets for the benefit of our clients. As a natural extension of our OTC FX platform FX Grid, we took on the challenge of helping our customers, partners, and liquidity providers navigate the new regulatory landscape. We have created a SEF that preserves what is best about OTC markets – relationships, choice, resiliency, and bespoke business models, thereby minimizing any potential disruption to our customers’ foreign exchange trading businesses
