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Robson: strong endorsement |
FXMarketSpace has announced the second group of institutions that will participate in its Early Adopter Program (EAP). The Chicago Mercantile Exchange now has more than 40 participants signed up on the programme, which it claims demonstrates the widespread acceptance of its centrally cleared market concept. The players to sign up include Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, Calyon Financial, FCStone, Graham Capital Management, Madison Tyler Trading, Nordea, Plenum Fund, Rand Financial Services, Inc and Relativity.
For the moment, many sell-side FX players remain sceptical about FXMarketSpace. And although such operations as FX powerhouse have indicated their support for the platform, there is a sense that they are simply making sure they have a bet on the venture just in case it wins.
To confuse the issue, there seems to be a certain lack of awareness of the distinction between clearing and settlement. One senior figure at a tier-two sell-side player dismisses FXMarketSpace as very much a solution looking for a problem. “Are the banks/financial institutions that are signing up, already using CLS? If so, are they going to stop using CLS and use FXMarketspace instead?” he argues.