Wells Fargo to Price FX from SG1
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: March 7, 2024
Wells Fargo is to become the latest FX liquidity provider to connect in Singapore’s SG1 data centre to deliver FX pricing to its clients in the region, announcing plans to launch there in the second half of 2024.
As was the case with other launches in SG1, this connection was in conjunction with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and aims to deliver a lower latency trading environment to clients and promote greater efficiency for the Singapore and wider APAC FX markets.
“Wells Fargo’s new e-FX pricing and trading engine is a welcome addition to the growing number of players that have set up their e-FX capabilities here,” says Lim Cheng Khai, executive director, financial markets development department, MAS. “As FX volumes continue to grow in SG1, the entry of Wells Fargo to our ecosystem will enhance the trading experience for market participants and contribute to more efficient price‑discovery activities in Singapore.”
Singapore has seen strong growth in FX activity in the region in recent years. In the last decade turnover in the city state has more than doubled to more than $860 billion per day. Spot volumes have contributed to this, more than doubling in the past five years, however the data does not disclose how much is executed electronically. That said, MAS launched its initiative to grow e-FX trading in the centre in 2019, so the growth coincides with that.
“Wells Fargo can provide the market with differentiated liquidity given our large underlying corporate, commercial, and payments businesses, and we have already seen some great success on this front with our clients across APAC,” says Mandy Wan, co‑head of APAC, Corporate & Investment Banking and head of Markets, APAC, at Wells Fargo. “Our FX team, along with the setup of our e-FX pricing capabilities on SG1, will position us to be a major full‑fledged FX liquidity provider to the Singapore FX ecosystem and help us better serve our clients.”
Vince Hindman, global head of FX, at the bank, adds, “Wells Fargo continues to invest in the growth of its global FX business, particularly in our people and technology, in order to best serve our clients. The SG1 project will allow us to capitalise on this liquidity by offering it electronically via lower latency pricing so our clients can achieve better execution results. Our investment in expanding our electronic pricing capabilities in Singapore’s e-FX hub via SG1 is a strategic initiative that will further help distribute our liquidity and deliver top‑class solutions to our clients globally.”