BNP Paribas has continually enhanced its e-books in spots, forwards and swaps over the last 12 to 18 months, which has allowed the business to provide greater liquidity and more competitive prices, even during the height of volatility.
In 2022, its forwards and swaps e-books were greatly expanded to quote increased size and maturity for both G10 and emerging markets. The bank increased its maturity to three years and subsequently five years, increasing volumes and allowing clients to trade more electronically.
“Our e-book is the pricing engine behind our electronic trading business,” explains Adrian Hudd, global head of G10 FX swap trading at BNPP. “With the e-book, both price and spread is deterministic and not subject to trading discretion. By employing an intelligent algorithm, it maintains an extremely precise estimate of the fair value price of the FX swap term structure.”
As a result of trading more electronically, BNPP has been able to internalise a large proportion of its flows and utilise its internal liquidity pools to offer more consistent pricing.