LSEG Cuts Brokerage to Zero on One-Month-Plus FX Swaps

LSEG has announced plans to cut the brokerage it charges on its Matching platform for FX swaps, from the one-month tenor and beyond, to zero in an effort to boost automation in the market further along the curve.

The change, which will come into effect on 1 May, will see brokerage fees for “takers” drop from between $0.80 and $5.40 per million, to zero. LSEG says it is making the move “to foster further growth” in the market “by removing execution costs as a factor”. Currently price makers on Matching do not pay brokerage.

The firm says in 2025 it saw a record 10% of FX swaps volume traded via API on Matching, adding this was “a signal that investments by our clients in their own infrastructure is filtering through to the interbank market”.

The firm adds, “With hundreds of billions of dollars going through electronically in short-dated swaps, it’s important we continue to support the market at this key moment to help drive electronic curve formation in longer tenors – which is why LSEG FX is removing brokerage on longer-dated FX Swaps to help increase transparency in electronic hedging.”

The change comes as LSEG FX continues its evolution of hard matching on the platform, the firm says following a successful pilot with four banks, it is working to move hard matching in FX swaps closer to the spot market model by introducing firm, pre-trade credit checks directly into its Matching CLOB.

“By enabling faster, automated credit validation at the point of match, the LSEG FX Matching platform will increase certainty of execution and reduce friction without compromising anonymity or centralised price formation,” the firm says in a release. “This signals a step-change in making electronic FX swaps trading more reliable and scalable under stressed conditions, while preserving the discipline of a true order book.”