Section One – Single Dealer Platforms
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: October 22, 2025
The first thing to be noted when discussing the SDP world is how little has changed since last I checked in on the banks literally the week before Covid shut the world down. To a large extent this is because the first two years of this decade were largely spent focused on ensuring the Markets businesses could still actually operate with swathes of staff at home and uncertainty over both market conditions and future budgets.
Also a factor is a fortune of timing around Covid – the majority of banks had just completed the pivot to HTML5 and as such did not have to maintain that progress alongside their efforts to keep pricing and risk managing. Some had not, of course, and it was notable that a few users suggested there were still some holdouts. This may not be as strange as it seems, however, for we could be getting close to the next generation of technology to support these platforms – HTMLX anyone? A feature of the single dealer world over the past 15 years in particular has been how one bank’s deployment, or extended use of, newer technology has propelled them to the top.
In the two-and-a-half years since we really moved on from Covid, banks have moved at different paces, with some investing, some talking about investing, and others leaving things as be. The latter path was often led by what was actually an industry-wide feeling – that the day of the SDP was over, the future was multi-dealers.
This was OK, of course, because the SDP was dying wasn’t it? We were all going to the MDPs who were going to dominate? Well, not so fast. A few things have upset this simple plan and caused some pause for thought, if not, yet, disruption.
Firstly, the return of volatility, with the promise of much more to come as the Trump administration seeks to change the world order, especially when it comes to trade, has seen some LPs realise that they can’t cope. It is not so much a capacity issue as the need to invest heavily in pricing and risk infrastructure. For many of these firms, the core e-FX pricing function is not a risk centre in the traditional view of things, its job is to get business in and churn it, most often for a small profit. This meant their tech budgets had to go on pricing and risk tech, at the expense of client-facing functionality on their SDP.
A second event has also triggered renewed focus on SDPs, the cost of operating on the MDPs. The headline act for this was Bloomberg starting to charge for FXGO, but it was in reality the catalyst for a long-standing issue to step further into the limelight. The fact was the banks felt they were being squeezed too far and as such adjusted their pricing on these venues accordingly. Customers noticed, conversations were had, and, for the first time in a while (if at all) customers actually listened to the banks’ gripes about costs.
There is also a third factor in play – the rising demand for analytics. Third-party providers exist in this space, but in FX at least, the feedback from the customers is largely that the banks’ data and analytics is better because it is “cleaner” and “less noisy” to quote just two users – it is also normally free. Again, away from spot and getting the ubiquitous 10 done in EUR/USD in 10 trades and fretting over the tenth of a tick missed on one child order, the focus for this has been non-spot. Volatility has brought renewed interest in FX options, which require analytics, and, largely, these are available – for free – on the SDPs. In a similar fashion, interest rate volatility has seen a growing demand for FX swaps, at the very time that regulations are making counterparties a lot choosier over who they deal with.
The message is that rather than talking about the death of the SDP, we are talking a revival – but not to a position that should threaten any decently-run MDP
Of course, this all needs to be put into perspective – the banks’ FX businesses are not exactly down to their last revenue dollar – but in non-spot especially, their arguments seemed to hit a nerve.
Equally, it needs to be stressed that a renewed focus on SDPs does not mean the death of the MDP. They have existed alongside each other for more than two decades and do not, and will not, operate on an exclusive basis. Clients will use both, as they have done for most of this century. Our message is more that rather than the death of the SDP, we are talking a revival – but again, not to a position that should threaten any decently-run MDP.
If there was a threat to the MDPs it is likely to be firm-specific, rather than a widespread wiping out of these venues and it can only come if the industry overcomes a rather large hurdle in the buy sides’ collective attitude to best execution. Put simply, if someone devises a way where clients can access multiple LP prices through another’s SDP, then something may change. Oh, and this is largely about non-spot – it has been tried in spot, of course, with certain bank’s aggregators and algo offerings, but thus far it hasn’t really taken off for various reasons. Would it be any different in non-spot? Will new tech play a role in any such development? These are questions for another day, but they are bubbling away under the surface and could rise to the top at any time.
In the meantime, all of this has meant that a host of banks have started looking more intently at their SDP and even started prioritising investment therein. Not all, however, for we are still told of multiple players who are still discussing the issue, rather than acting. The chances are, these firms will be left behind, especially in the more revenue-rich non-spot world.
Even for those who have actively started investing, there is still a significant time lag that means their platforms look, and more importantly, operate, much as they did in 2019. That is not enough to remain competitive, as these firms are realising, which means work has to be conducted quickly and effectively.
This lack of sustained investment across the board is another reason for the limited scope of these inaugural awards – too many firms are offering 2019 versions of their platforms and while this is no fault of the FX businesses themselves, there is little point, according to users, in discussing tech that is familiar and “well-worn” to quote one user.
Often we heard the same refrain from users, ‘give me something that works, and is less than two years old’. In other words, use modern technology, because it is simply on a different planet to that from a decade or less ago, and ‘give me functionality that I can use’.
In many ways, the willingness to invest in the SDP is directly related to the bank’s ambition in the broader FX space – do they really want to be a global player, or a well-regarded specialist focused on a small core client group? In spot that question is easy to answer – go where you are good and don’t get involved in the seemingly endless arms race to shave another microsecond off latency. In non-spot, it’s not so easy.
Balance sheet and capital allocation still play a huge role in these businesses, but increasingly non-spot is going electronic. This means that a bank needs to have good e-capabilities in NDFs, swaps and options – and while they’re building them, they might as well make sure their spot offering is good enough.
It should be stressed that most users are less than concerned over the speed of a platform, or indeed how many bells and whistles it has. They go to these platforms for depth of liquidity, rather than a tight spread in the minimum amount. They want good analytics around it, naturally, and they want to be able to automate as much of the process as possible, without disrupting their precious workflow, but this does not have to come with a huge price tag for the provider. Often we heard the same refrain from users, ‘give me something that works, and is less than two years old’. In other words, use modern technology, because it is simply on a different planet to that from a decade or less ago, and ‘give me functionality that I can use’.
At the same time, innovative ideas are welcome, but the lack of them is not a deal breaker. That said, and finally getting to that large ape sitting in the corner of the room, the path of these platforms is less clear than it might be thanks to what is going on in the digital assets world, most notably tokenisation and stablecoins generally. While this is unlikely to disrupt the basic functions of SDPs – liquidity and analytics – it is already obvious that several banks see this technology as potential benefit to their Markets businesses more generally, and, naturally, FX within that. It doesn’t look like we are at the stage where actual currencies will be displaced, but certainly new tech has to be a key factor in any thinking over workflow tools.
Best FX Platform – JP Morgan
Plus ça change as our French friends are fond of saying. The last time the editor was involved in awards the standout offering was JP Morgan’s Execute – roll forward nearly five years and it remains thus. The bank has not taken its foot off the gas when it comes to investing, and while a fair bit of work has gone into making it a multi-asset platform, FX has not been left behind.
While these awards are solely focused on FX, abilities in other asset classes should not be ignored, given how they can make a platform attractive to hedge funds and asset managers who still like the idea of a multi-asset class venue, but have yet to find one that really meets their needs. Best execution policies for some firms aside, Execute does meet a lot of their needs.
Ensuring that it adheres to the mantra of not upsetting client workflow, rather enhancing it, the bank has seriously enhanced its pre-trade offering – leveraging the benefits that come from being such a significant presence in the FX markets. This manifests itself in analytics, with the stand out in FX terms being around market volume – both actual and predictive – that can be adapted by the client with a single click to show the parameters in which they are interested. Several users pointed out that too many volume analytics are static, they really like the flexible nature of those on offer on Execute.
All types of traders are catered for in the pre-trade analytics; want net flow data from the biggest house on the street? It’s there. So too is longer-term analysis for real money firms seeking to trade in larger size over duration (widgets or icons also provide high-level explanations of the data). The bank offers analytics on Execute in 11 asset classes as well, to satisfy that growing demand for multi-faceted platforms.
The pre-trade analytics around algo performance are still excellent – and have long been a strength of the bank – while it has more recently added alerts that clients can use for any number of potential triggers. Importantly when it comes to analytics, the GUI is easy on the eye, highlights potential opportunities and risks clearly and is intuitive and interactive.
A particularly useful addition in recent times has been basket orders, which doesn’t sound that exciting as it has been done before, but probably not to the breadth of those available on Execute. Leaning back into the multi-asset aspect of the platform, clients can not only create their own basket of correlated currency pairs (with their own weightings), but they can now build baskets across asset classes, thanks to the bank’s work in fixed income and commodities especially. As the world’s markets become driven even more by technology and systematic traders, the importance of being able to establish multiple positions, across multiple asset classes, with one or two clicks, cannot be understated.
Baskets can be created by JP Morgan teams and sent to the client to upload to the platform, meaning even those clients with fewer technology resources in FX (yes, we are looking at you asset managers!) can create and access their own.
In FX options, the bank has added staging technology, where trades can be uploaded for checking and executing. It has also built a workflow that very much reflects that of the MDPs – a rare case of an idea flowing in that direction rather than the other – using APIs to send trades back to the client. Clients in options can also do unwinds and restructuring trades in the post-trade environment, as well as add allocations and splits, using templates or on a bespoke basis. An interesting idea is the use of QR codes, where approved strategies can be sent to the client in the form of a QR code from where they can launch a ticket.
An FX options lifecycle blotter is now also available on JP Morgan’s mobile app, useful in a world that still has some WFH holdouts (the sharing functionality on options also speaks to this). The mobile offering has also been enhanced to offer more algo functionality, thus making it even more trader-friendly – something that has no doubt been welcomed given market conditions over the past year.
An enhanced JP Morgan Markets (JPMM) platform has also been released, offering a more personalised experience and signifying the broad nature of the bank’s investment in its FX business. If there is a process in the trade lifecycle, JP Morgan has sought to ensure that Execute (and JPMM) incorporates it in a user-friendly fashion. This extends to its work to create a single sign-on for the entire platform – sounds easy, takes a lot of work. Similarly, the blotters have been enhanced – again, an oft-overlooked aspect of a platform, but for many clients an invaluable resource.
Execute remains, therefore, the best in the business, helped, no doubt, by continued competition from its peers – something the bank is keenly aware of. Perhaps one observation explains why the bank manages to stay ahead – several banks see their SDP as a reflection of their FX business, offering superb tools and services in areas in which they are strong.
JP Morgan, on the other hand, very much sees its platform as the creative engine for the FX business – new ideas start there and are developed on there. That is the true definition of an e-FX operation that is embedded in the wider business and highlights why knocking the bank off the top step will be so hard for its challengers.
Best Emerging Markets Platform – Citi
As was the case in the pre-Covid years, Citi has been one of the big investors in its FX technology over the past 18 months to two years. Part of the spend has been on the bank’s well-publicised slimming down of the venues it connects to, in turn part of an effort to simplify what was a very complex technology platform and business framework just a few years ago.
The majority of investment, however, has been on making Velocity a true one-stop shop for the banks FX services. The bank’s superbly functional Pulse platform for corporates was first to be integrated and the bank is in the throes now of completing the process with its prime brokerage platform, Click. The latter of course, was the model that drove so much of the look and feel of Velocity’s later iterations, giving the entire platform a modern feel whilst still providing the ability to drill down with a small number of clicks.
The other area the bank has been focusing on is workflow, specifically solving a problem that has bugged Citi for the best part of two decades – the sheer number of services available and the sign-ons required. If there is one theme that comes through from the Citi journey over the past year or two (and it’s not over yet), it is bringing unity to what was a series of disparate – but loosely connected – services that were built by different parts of the business over a period of time.
This work requires a business structure that can complete such an onerous task and that too has been part of the journey, but there are early signs of success. Users tell us they are more engaged with Velocity on a broader basis than before, simply because it has become easier to access everything.
In terms of functionality, Velocity looks familiar, but again, there has been significant work behind the scenes to speed up everything, from onboarding, through pricing, to post-trade management. In terms of growth, leaning into its very strong corporate franchise that loved Pulse, the bank is targeting custody FX – another largely rules-based transaction model. While it is likely to see significant success here given the functionality of Pulse lends itself so well to such trading, it was notable that at least three other banks that we saw also highlighted their work to capture more of this business. Clearly greater competition is coming to custody…
Overall then, the story of Citi over the past two years has been consolidation, work behind the scenes to improve the client experience, and a slimmer structure to the business. It has also built closer ties with its payments business, another area for the Pulse functionality, probably as part of an effort to integrate the platform into the wider bank’s infrastructure.
Take these improvements on top of what was already a very good platform, and then push them into the emerging market arena, where a more prosaic fact about Citi plays a big role – it’s global footprint.
Effectively, across all FX services and products, for all types of clients, Citi is delivering a G10 experience in emerging markets. This is being done elsewhere, of course, but not on such a scale – which is why the work to improve the tech infrastructure and client experience was so vital. Differentiating oneself in G10 is very hard, in EM, it’s difficult but there are still opportunities – and Citi is grabbing them with both hands. From the broad sweep of Pulse’s offering that takes into account every nuance of a local market, to the specific work to ensure that the payments business has a better operating environment globally, Citi has built an excellent platform.
Velocity has always pleased the user from a visual experience, but there were frustrations about the different pieces attached to the side of it, this has now changed. The FX business itself has also changed, with, as noted, more connection to the bank’s other business units that inevitably cross over with FX. Whether it be in payments or investor services, across algos, options and NDFs, for corporates, asset managers, hedge funds and banks, Citi is creating a one-stop shop. At the moment, this is manifesting itself more in emerging markets, because the bank is leveraging its position in these centres, going forward, however, expect to see Citi challenging to back on top of the stack in all areas.
Best Execution Award – JP Morgan
Many of the reasons for this award has been covered in our write up for Best FX Platform, but it needs to be reiterated just how good the trading experience is on Execute.
While basket creation is probably the stand out feature, mainly because it speaks to how customers want to execute certain of their trades in certain conditions – systematic accounts especially – the quality of more prosaic features should not be forgotten.
Pricing tablets are sharp and easy on the eye with good information held within, there is also the Activity Feed, which offers targeted content for users thinking about trading (especially in size or at tricky times). Away from the client experience (visually), users also tell us that pricing in general from JP Morgan remains tight and backed by good depth of liquidity – something that is very important as it represents a significant advantage over many ECNs and even some multi-dealer venues.
The algos remain excellent, with in-flight analysis available as well as pre- and post-trade analytics – and the decision to fold this back into Execute some five years ago has paid off, providing a much more seamless experience. The bank is also reaping the benefits of its position in the FX markets, especially in e-FX, with increasing use of is adaptive algo strategy.
Ultimately, JP Morgan’s sheer presence in the FX market helps it win this award, because not only does it offer deep liquidity and an in-depth look at the market, it has overlaid this with state-of-the-art tools to help clients with both their analysis and, importantly, execution.
Best FX Options Platform – Goldman Sachs
Amidst what remains a very good platform overall, Goldman Sachs has built out a superb FX options offering. In a way this is not a surprise – the bank has always been strong there and was one of the first innovators in the space back in the early 2000s with its pricing application that looked like an app most traders were using, but came with extra functionality.
Differentiating in FX options can be very difficult in the third decade of the century – most products are covered by the top group of players, and users’ preference for the familiar pricing grid style means pushing too far from the mean can be challenging. Goldman has managed it, however, by understanding one aspect of the FX options workflow – the vast majority of it takes place pre-trade. Execution remains critical, of course, but that often occurs after hours, maybe even days, of analysis.
This is where the bank’s Visual Structuring tool comes in, it is built for idea generation and risk management – probably the two most important parts of an FX option trader’s day-to-day work. Launched in 2022, the product has been enhanced with the addition of NLP capabilities, it also now incorporates more information, specifically around market events, to help users better understand their books.
Tapping into one of the early functions of Marquee, users can also hover over the trade or structure to get the micro details – something that is especially useful for more complex products. Ideas or structures can be shared easily for collaboration and the banks has ensured it has stayed in the race by adding more exotic products to the platforms.
For those that prefer the old-fashioned way of trading and managing option books, this is available through blotters, but the real differentiator here is Visual Structuring which is mobile friendly to the degree that it was built with such a scenario in mind. Users can prompt operations by touch screen or a swipe of the finger, meaning not only a more modern feel, but also much easier collaboration – rather than send countless emails, just pick up a tablet and walk over to discuss the details.
Visualisation is becoming more important in FX analytics generally, and will remain so until such time as even FX options is a fully-automated process. Until that day, however, the standard in the field is Goldman Sachs – in a very competitive field it has pushed ahead with a creative, innovative, and user-friendly product.
Workflow Award – Citi
Much of this has been covered in Citi’s award for emerging markets, but the sheer volume of work undertaken by the bank to improve what was something of a piecemeal platform cannot be understated.
Some people think workflow and think sophisticated, but complex, solutions – Citi sees it very much as requiring simplicity, and it is hard to argue with that viewpoint. We have already noted the bank is seeking to leverage the excellent Pulse into a platform that will seamlessly handle instructional FX trades from custodians, but this is a great example of how the bank simplified matters.
The idea generation on Velocity remains the best in the business, thanks largely to its FX Overview, which provides an interactive and intuitive journey through markets, helping inform just about any decision. Infinity Cable is a useful tool for file uploads for staging and trading, while the trading experience has also been improved thanks to the bank finally leveraging its franchise in its algo suite, which offers much more choice than it once did.
Post-trade, Click remains a popular tool for prime brokerage clients, but the decision to bring the FX business closer to the investor and securities services businesses means inevitably, workflow tools are also better connected.
Workflow has been something of a buzzword for the past two years or so, but at heart it remains a largely overlooked and unspectacular part of a banks e-FX offering. Citi is changing the thinking on that, by bringing ease of access and processing front and centre.
Best FX Swaps Platform – UBS
Our first mention of UBS in the Full FX Awards means we should provide an overview of what has been happening at the bank, for it remains one of the top providers in the SDP space thanks to the vision of Neo from all those years ago.
As was the case elsewhere, UBS has spent some resources on enhancing performance and resiliency, something that paid off during the market mayhem of April no doubt. Equally, the bank has been further embedding Neo into its business – again fulfilling one of the early visions for the platform as the infrastructure for the bank beyond just markets, in areas such as wealth management. Indeed, Neo still retains the feel that as well as being great for FX professionals, it is probably the easiest platform to pick up for those that only occasionally touch the FX market.
In terms of look and feel, the one thing that stands out on the current Neo is the increased use of colour – it’s not overdone, but it is definitely there, which is to the benefit of users, targeted as it is, at performance and data offerings. Away from that, perhaps the big change is something taken from Credit Suisse – streaming in much larger amounts than previously. Clearly UBS saw benefit in the CS idea of streaming, for certain clients, up to EUR 500 million in EUR/USD, because it has adopted it for itself. This also required the work UBS was undergoing a couple of years ago to enhance its pricing and risk management tech stack – something that has been done.
As is the case elsewhere, UBS has done a tremendous amount of work building analytics tools and services – and this again highlights the tremendous foundation that Neo provides, for this, along with the use of more colour, has allowed UBS to deliver a rich experience for users trying to pick apart FX market activity.
Traditional strength remains in FX options, which has been enhanced by better integration of market data and analytics to the execution page; as well as in algos, where routing has been enhanced to interact more – where possible – with the bank’s skews. Although Neo is still one of the best platforms around, and weas challenging in every category of these awards, however, it stands out from the pack in FX swaps and its STIR offering.
In FX swaps, the graphics around the run have been improved to provide more clarity, as have the pricing capabilities across the board. As well as the expected configurable nature of the swap run, the bank now delivers axes to defined clients based upon historical analysis or relationship management guidance alongside its streaming swaps prices – something that sets the SDP apart compared to the MDP.
On top of this, the bank has fully rolled out its STIR analytics product, a pretty unique offering built by a quant trader for the STIR trading desk – something that generally means a product will actually be used. It aims to break down a price into its component parts to assist traders with the timing of their execution and identify existing trends in the market, as well as to predict price action around market events.
The available data is very granular, and updated by UBS’ traders globally marking the curve. This effectively means live data for users of Neo in STIR markets, it also includes hard-to-get data, such as with the impact of month- or quarter-ends and without.
UBS is that confident in its STIR analytics, rightly it should be said, that it has also released a premium package, for targeted clients, which hones in on managing roll times by date, roll tenors and even time of day.
The level of granularity and the depth of data involved is tremendous – another benefit of the Neo ‘canister’. A heatmap is provided and can be fuelled by currency, by real-time or look back, one click on a tenor in a pair feeds a graph below that provides details of historical performance.
OIS analytics are also part of the package, showing the ‘priced in’ component ahead of central bank meetings, a panel also shows relative value for single or multiple currencies across the curve.
FX swaps remains an area where the single dealer platforms have a significant advantage, if they can deliver analytics to match the depth of liquidity on offer. UBS does this is spades, with a superb analytics package that is, quite frankly, good enough to satisfy the pickiest option trader.
Best Algos – BNP Paribas
Differentiating in the FX algo space is tricky – banks may give their algos some great (and less than great) names, but in essence there are four or five key strategies that are run the vast majority of the time. Over the past decade increasingly bank-offered algos have started to look very similar, as have the analytics package, but throughout time, as was the case for a few years before, BNP Paribas keeps pushing the boundaries.
Two things highlight the reputation of BNP’s algos – firstly the bank itself is seeking to push them out into the wider Cortex platform, for example, to cash equities (it also offers algos in listed FX alongside OTC, as well as in fixed income); and secondly, the recently-announced agreement with Lloyds Banking Group for the latter to host BNP’s FX algos for its own client base.
The analytics remain excellent, as is the ability to run ‘what if?’ scenarios, and the bank’s decision, some five years ago, to launch Alix, its virtual assistant, and Bix, an internal ECN, have both paid off as far as the algo business is concerned. On the latter, the ability to interact with internal liquidity – while remaining screened from the principal desks – is important; on the former, users starting to investigate algos more seriously, have an assistant to help guide them through and alert them to any potential influences on their execution “in-flight”.
BNP has also released what it terms a fifth-generation algo, Rex, that takes in both the entire workflow and can execute through the legs or as a basket. It also offers relative value execution across OTC and listed, providing a notable differentiator from MDP-hosted algos. The new algo offers pre-trade analytics, execution, and post-trade allocations, splits and rolls, and also aggregates multiple orders a customer may be running, to provide more efficient execution where possible.
The secret in offering algos is not necessarily creating very complex strategies, it is about making the workflow simple and then have the technology do the complex work by optimising execution performance. This has always been how BNP’s algo business has seen the world and its popularity suggests it is right in that assumption.
Best FX Prime Brokerage – NatWest Markets
FX prime brokerage has had an interesting last decade from being seen in some houses as the answer to where the banking FX business was heading, a couple of disasters saw a run for the exits on the part of several players, and a reduction in presence on the part of others. To a degree the industry has rebounded, but it still remains very much a case of PBs building functionality for their particular client segment(s).
The last seven years has seen NatWest Markets emerge as a leader in FX prime brokerage, with a platform built upon proprietary technology and a risk model that allows it to handle clients of all shapes and sizes, from all sides of the industry. This makes it, in cricket parlance, the perfect all-rounder.
As was the case with the algo award, part of the reason for this win is peer recognition, with several players mentioning their use of the technology, but it is also about the sheer quality of the FXPB service. The bank manages flow smartly, not, for example, worrying overly about high volume (in ticket terms) clients, because often they have limited, or no, market exposure. It also provides the clients with the comfort of easy-to-understand analytics, showing how their processes are performing (as well as their traders!)
To a degree, NatWest’s excellence in FXPB is a human factor – the bank still focuses heavily on client service teams globally to help clients manage their risks – but it has been overlaid with great technology and, importantly from our point of view, improved graphics.
If there was one area of the NatWest FXPB offering that suffered some years ago it was the lack of graphics to alert people (perhaps non-dedicated staff at the client) to potential problems, this has now been solved.
Key performance indicators are available in graphical as well as written form, and colour coding has helped provide the casual observer with a great view of their business. Umbrella and sub-account views are part of the granularity available to users of the platform, as is the live portfolio blotter with individual or portfolio-level trade detail.
The early pioneer in providing graphics in the PB business was Citi’s Click many years ago, and it is testimony to the openness of NatWest that it has taken the concept and used it to enhance an already outstanding offering. Interactive graphics allow users to drill down as far as they want, meaning people at all levels of the client business can find what they want easily.
The bank also provides a settlement ladder that offers future cash-flow projections, this can, naturally, be configured by currency, date or pair. Rolling balances is a simple process, users can also easily access their collateral position.
As an FX bank, NatWest has often shown itself to be open to new ideas and collaborations, and nowhere is this better demonstrated than with its FXPB offering. Clients of all types can be managed on a very flexible and configurable platform that importantly does most of the hard work for them, leaving them to trade.
Prime brokerage is a business that is all about avoiding mishaps and providing efficiency in processing and cash management. For some time now NatWest Markets has provided just such a platform and service, and in 2025 it continues to get better.
FX Product of the Year – Haus FX from Deutsche Bank
We have been through so many iterations of white labelling that it is hard to count them all, but one thing has come through over the years – the right model simply did not exist to allow both sides to grow comfortably and without friction. Often this was because it was a simply a liquidity relationship (and liquidity is still vitally important of course), and this meant that anyone seeking to optimise execution (i.e. everyone!) felt like they were missing something.
What is so clever about HausFX – apart from the name, which is pretty good – is that it represents the latest effort to provide FX-as-a-service, in other words, a much broader package than has previously been possible. It helps that the bank has the foundation of its e-FX business, Autobahn, to fall back on, but while that platform is at the start of a journey, HausFX meets needs of the clients now.
It is, essentially, the perfect offering for a firm that does not perhaps take FX as seriously as it should; a firm that recognises that better FX management and processing will aid the bottom line, but has little or no expertise in house to help deliver those incremental improvements. Into this breach steps HausFX.
It delivers automated and configurable workflow, including the ability to create systematic execution and hedging strategies; simplified payments and trading, and is backed up with post-trade services that would be expected from a major prime broker. The bank also has, as it must have for such an offering, a comprehensive data and analytics package to help clients better understand their business.
Perhaps the difference between HausFX and its forerunners is the fact that this is very much a technology package, with access to serious liquidity the icing on the cake. Another factor to consider is how this is not necessarily aimed at regional and smaller banks – although they could benefit from the services – it also works for the vast number of asset managers, particularly in the passive space, that see FX as an administrative burden.
So, a white label system? Not really. HausFX is much more than that, it is the bedrock for better currency management, while not having to spend too many valuable investment dollars on a product that many of the client base neither interact with on a regular basis, or have a grounding in.
Autobahn is, as noted, at the start of a road to renewal, but this does not mean Deutsche’s e-FX business is not still sitting comfortably at the top table – it is. This provides the added bonus of better execution for the client.
Processing power? Quality execution? A backbone to an oft-forgotten part of the business in some firms on the buy-side? HausFX delivers on all fronts.
