Citi Consolidates Platforms in Velocity 3.0
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: February 23, 2023
CitiFX has unveiled Velocity 3.0, the latest version of its single dealer platform, which brings together several client-facing platforms that previously operated in parallel.
The new platform delivers CitiFX Pulse, its corporate platform, alongside Velocity Trading, Velocity Research and CitiFX Click, the bank’s prime brokerage platform. Previously, although these tools and services could be accessed via a single sign on, they were run on different technologies.
The bank says the new platform is 50% faster with a cold start and 30% faster with a hot start. Deal booking is 71% faster, order placement response is 94% faster and the platform’s blotter loads 65% faster and filters 15% faster than the previous CitiFX Pulse blotter. The user interface is built on HTML5 and can be delivered via Web, desktop and mobile.
“Velocity 3.0 provides a complete client offering,” says Alaa Saeed, global head of electronic platforms at CitiFX. “Clients can mix-and-match the best of what CitiFX has to offer, delivering e-FX à la carte via a host of connectivity solutions. The new HTML architecture framework has boosted performance across the platform, allowing us to bring together our richest digital solution to date.
What’s more, Velocity 3.0 scales as an operating system upon which an FX industry platform can be built, delivering the best of both proprietary and 3rd party solutions to meet our clients’ ever-changing needs,” he adds.
The bank says fragmentation as a result of platform proliferation has had important implications for liquidity availability, operational resilience and transparency. It adds that clients are increasingly looking to optimise how and where they source liquidity from, demanding fully integrated solutions for both execution and workflow. “Velocity 3.0 solves this problem, by delivering Citi’s e-FX offerings for clients via a single point of integration, says Jon Lofthouse, global head of markets technology at Citi. “The unified enterprise infrastructure and HTML 5 support high-performance streaming libraries that enhance the display of real-time data and the registration of one-click executions. By leveraging the latest in cloud technology and the use of Micro Front Ends, Velocity 3.0 is an agile, scalable solution allowing for rapid addition of new features and allows Citi to respond to client feedback promptly.”
