As well as being a member of the consortium sites FXall and Atriax, Brown Brothers Harriman, like many other banks, has developed its own single-dealer online currency trading product. FX Worldview is designed to provide clients with seamless integration of trading, from the clients' own order management systems all the way through to confirmation.
The main features that the system offers are real-time trading, access to 23 currencies, automatic aggregation and allocation of trades, increased straight-through processing efficiencies and improved risk management. In addition, users will in future be able to access up-to-the-minute news and research. The system can be customized for each client and is easily adapted to future requirements. BBH claims that the system will offer the best possible consistent, competitive quotes, analysis and information from a single-dealer portal.
Henry Wilkes, senior vice-president and head of European foreign exchange at BBH, feels that FX Worldview will prove to be a valuable tool for clients. "The system is live now and working very well," he says. The reason, he explains, for being involved in consortium sites as well as developing a proprietary system is simply one of customer service. "Clients can find us on the multi-bank sites, our own platform and, of course, over the telephone. A lot of clients still want access to other services, including the telephone, so it's a case of giving our clients whatever form of service they want."
Crucial to the appeal of FX Worldview is its in-built flexibility. Each client can customize the platform to suit its own business; an important feature when dealing with a wide variety of users. BBH's target is largely the fund management market. The allocation feature of the platform is therefore of great importance. Clients can import lists of funds and allocate proportions of each trade accordingly, offering a major saving in processing time and allowing the fund managers more time to focus on other, more worthwhile aspects of their role.
Stacey Seltzer, assistant vice-president in foreign exchange, explains that the system is designed to be simple enough for the small user to handle but sophisticated enough to satisfy the needs of larger traders. "Our client base covers global investors, fund managers and corporates, so the system has to be simple and agile enough to serve all their diverse needs," he says.
At the moment, the portal offers just trading but the information and research applications will be added soon. In future, the forex team at BBH hopes to add a chat and negotiation facility to the service, replicating existing trading methods in a more efficient environment. Wilkes says: "We see e-commerce as an additional method of communication with our clients. These systems give us the opportunity to open up business with more people, both through multi-bank sites and our own platform. Put simply, they offer an effective way of reaching even more potential customers. Online trading won't offer lower prices to users but it will bring big advantages for the back office thanks to enhanced straight-through processing. It also makes life simpler for the front office with easy, quick access to competitive quotes."