UBS has continued to evolve the FX offering on its UBS Neo platform over the past four years, with the bank making significant strategic investments in the last 12 months that further refine the offering.
UBS Neo stands out for its ability to offer FX spot liquidity, having increased to being able to offer up to 500 million in G5 currencies, alongside increases in precious metals spot liquidity access. This has resulted in additional platform volume both from existing clients and through attracting new client flows owing to a combination of deep liquidity and spread stability. As a result, UBS Neo’s market share as a single-dealer platform (SDP) has increased 15% year on year, following a 25% year no year increase the previous year.
In addition, product coverage gaps were addressed in the cash SDP offering, with liquidity now offered in frontier currencies for spot electronically, and swaps and outright forwards via our voice desk.
In options, UBS introduced new initiatives to encourage further growth on UBS Neo. These include a redesign to make the screens easily configurable, while there was a redesign of the smart-entry system that converts text to FX option structures, and organically improves by learning from users’ inputs and corrections.
UBS also added additional third-party capabilities to the platform, including CME block trades trading capabilities, and improved the ease and efficiency. Performing unwinds and booking restructures was made more efficient, and advanced analytics on multi-currency products were developed to perform ad hoc correlation and cheapness analysis, enabling clients to make strategic decisions in event-driven markets.
The analytics offering in general was expanded on the SDP, notably supporting the strategy of transforming FX swaps into a service, with STIR analytics now being available exclusively on UBS Neo and believed to be the only tool of its kind to be offered by a bank.
The bank’s own internal data show the positive impact its work on the platform has had. Year to date, UBS Neo ranked as the leading SDP in terms of average daily volumes, while the overall volumes traded on NeoFX increased by 23% year on year globally.
“This year, we focused on expanding the range and depth of currencies offered, improving our pricing performance and developing our unique suite of FX analytics,” says Stephan Hoeger, global head of e-FX distribution at UBS.
“This underscores our commitment to electronic FX innovation and keeps NEO FX front of our clients’ minds when it comes to FX products, exceptional client support and platform reliability in all market conditions.”