Standard Chartered Bank has rolled out its first, FIX-based API. The bank will use it initially to provide streaming liquidity in majors to clients through 360T’s TEX multi-bank platform, as well as a broader range of currencies on its own proprietary Straight2Bank Stream portal.
According to Tom Roche, StanChart’s global head of e-commerce and retail products group, the move is a key stage in the bank’s plan to beef up its electronic trading offering. “We want to continue being the market leader in emerging market currencies and we want our electronic offering to reflect our franchise. We’ve found that our clients want faster access to our liquidity, and the best way of doing that is through an API,” he says.
Roche says that StanChart will look to add to its distribution capabilities, but it will continue to be selective about where it streams to, especially in emerging market currencies. So far, the bank is pleased with the flow it has seen from 360T, which has primarily come from global corporates.
Mathew Kuppe, 360T’s managing director Asia-Pacific, says that StanChart’s strength is appealing to 360T’s customer base: “The positioning of Standard Chartered throughout the emerging markets is particularly attractive to our clients, and this profile further enhances the broad coverage of asset classes and currencies supported on the platform.”