Morgan Stanley has reaped the rewards for its investment in electronic trading to overtake Goldman Sachs and swap places with its arch-rival in this year’s Euromoney FX survey. That investment was part of an attempt to shed its image as a niche hedge fund player and broaden its client base. It would appear to be succeeding.
Overall, the bank rose one place to ninth, with its most eye-catching move coming in options, where it charged from 10th to fifth place, taking its market share up from 5% to 7.9%. Part of that increase in market share in options came at the expense of Goldman, which plummeted from second position to 10th. Morgan Stanley also performed well in swaps, climbing four places to 10th, lifting its market share from 1.74% to 2.13%.
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| Stephen Glynn, co-head of Morgan Stanley's FX business |
Morgan Stanley’s performance in options and swaps does not surprise Stephen Glynn or Senad Prusac, the co-heads of the bank’s FX business. Although Prusac notes that last year in options the bank did begin to trade with one big new client, he says the result is a reflection of several years of investment in the bank’s single-dealer platform Matrix and its overall e-commerce strategy, which has begun to deliver.