London’s Mandarin Oriental played host on Thursday to the second successful Euromoney Foreign Exchange Awards, with more than 200 of the industry’s most senior leaders and practitioners gathering for an exceptional evening to celebrate, recognise and reward the highest achievements across the FX market during the past year.

Deutsche Börse Group’s Eurex is the European hub of the global derivatives market, offering a combination of listed FX alongside a deepening connection to over-the-counter (OTC) FX markets. Eurex’s FX infrastructure is designed to allow market participants to adapt to regulatory mandates, minimizing the cost of trading while allowing clients to more effectively transition between listed and OTC formats.

SGX FX is the largest Asian FX Futures exchange and has continued to innovate in the Asian FX markets by offering comprehensive solutions tailored to the evolving needs of clients, while driving growth through technological innovation and client engagement.

Asset managers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and requiring advanced tools across the trade lifecycle and, during the last year, Bloomberg’s FXGO has evolved in line with the needs of the FX industry.

Over the past year, Digitec has cemented its position as the global standard for FX swaps and non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) through embracing technological innovation.

During the review period, Barclays’ focus in the FX algo space has been on enhancing its client experience by improving overall algo performance and increasing platform flexibility to facilitate targeted algo customization. This client-centric approach resulted in the further broadening and refinement of its BARX Gator algo suite. Added to this, Barclays’ established franchise, adaptability and deep infrastructure interconnectivity contribute to the current reputation and standing in the market of the algo offering. The bank’s global teams, quants, and dedicated resources ensure continuous optimization and deliver top-tier, tailored solutions to its clients.

NatWest Markets (NWM) treats its FX Prime Brokerage (FXPB) business as a distinct growth focus as opposed to an ancillary service, with significant investment in the business to ensure it can provide high-touch, high-service offerings. Combining the freedom of having a proprietary platform with an appetite for developing client solutions has resulted in a suite of solutions that are used for different client types. While most FXPB banks use the market standard FXPB agreement, NWM has developed six distinct FXPB models. These models can be combined to address a broad selection of client types ranging from prop traders through to agency brokers and FX platforms.

SmartTrade Technologies' order management system (OMS) has been adopted by 80% of its 70+ clients, showcasing strong market confidence in its offering. During the review period, smartTrade introduced several strategic enhancements to its OMS. Its continuous product innovation to further enhance trading efficiency has been the main source of new client acquisitions over the past year.

Stanbic Bank Kenya’s strategic initiatives highlight its ability to blend technological advancements with tailored financial solutions, addressing complex market needs while enhancing client autonomy. The bank’s contributions to major corporate transactions further highlight its pivotal position in shaping the financial landscape in Kenya.

UBS has demonstrated resilience and adaptability in the face of significant organizational changes and challenging market conditions, maintaining a strong focus on differentiated client service through consistent liquidity provision, competitive pricing and innovative content.

Stanbic Bank Tanzania’s (SBT) FX operations experienced impressive growth, with FX revenue doubling year-over-year.

A dominant player in the Omani market, Bank Muscat offers comprehensive FX payment solutions to both corporate and individual clients, facilitating remittances and trade-related payments in 29 currencies.

Citibanamex, with over 139 years of history in Mexico, is a leading player in the FX business. The bank offers FX services for a diverse set of currencies, including the MXN, USD and EUR. It is known for its ability to deliver complex FX solutions through an extensive product range such as FX spot, forwards, swaps and options, supported by a robust team of over 200 professionals and coverage across 1,280 branches.

Leveraging its deep knowledge of local markets in CEE, coupled with global product expertise, UniCredit dominated the regional FX market. The bank’s extensive network enables access to a broad suite of FX products, serving a diverse range of clients, including multinational corporations, financial institutions, local corporates and retail customers. This broad reach helps clients of all sizes optimize their FX strategies, whether in local markets or on the global stage.

TD Securities has implemented comprehensive global and regional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies across the business, with the FX team ensuring that it also has a targeted approach.

Over the past year, Barclays has developed its offering for real-money clients, notably through enhancements to the performance of its online FX trading channel BARX, enhancing spot liquidity and boosting algo flexibility. Using client feedback and behaviour analysis, Barclays also broadened and refined its algo suite, which significantly benefits real-money customers. Barclays offers market-leading insights, especially on UK policy and politics, and maintains tight spreads around economic events. Additionally, Barclays led client discussions on T+1 settlement, reinforcing its role as a key thought partner and strengthening client relationships.

Over the past 12 months, 4OTC has launched significant initiatives aimed at addressing connectivity issues caused by the fragmented nature of the FX market.

2024 has been a record-breaking year for FXSpotStream (FSS), setting new highs in all products including its offering in non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).

XTB is a global fintech company supporting more than 1 million customers worldwide, offering a broad range of instruments, including forex trading in contracts for difference on over 70 currency pairs in addition to cryptocurrencies.

Since its inception in 2018, FairXchange’s Horizon platform has helped FX businesses navigate operational complexities through AI-driven data analytics. Horizon's capabilities have expanded considerably with the recent integration of Sentinel, a powerful AI alerting tool that enhances real-time monitoring and response.

Euronext FX made significant progress to its product offering following the recent establishment of its dedicated product team. Spearheaded by a global head of product, the focus was on ensuring client feedback is promptly addressed and that the platform continues to develop, retaining and expanding its user base.

With a robust historical foundation as a key bank for the German Mittelstand – firms which collectively account for the largest share of the country's economic output – and a core partner for institutional clients, Commerzbank has leveraged its deep client relationships to drive advancements in providing FX services to its established client base in Germany.

Software as a service (SaaS)-based treasury and risk management solutions provider GTreasury had a successful year, marked by a proactive focus on driving operational efficiency, cost savings and enhanced risk management for corporates through its comprehensive FX management solutions.

During the second quarter of 2024, 360T averaged €142 billion per day in trading volumes, with the largest portion of that being FX swaps trading. The company specializes in FX swaps trading across three areas – for the buyside, the 360T execution management system (EMS) streamlines trading with customizable automation tools and embedded data feeds for best execution.

Warba Bank has made impressive strides in its provision of institutional FX services to the local market, focusing on innovation, automation and client-centric financial solutions.

Over 2023, Sacombank’s FX division played a crucial role in the bank's strategy, according to its own records, contributing 10%-20% of its pre-tax profit. Despite global economic challenges including high inflation and geopolitical instability, Sacombank focused on supporting businesses affected by the rising USD/VND exchange rate.

DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia, operating in 19 markets with headquarters in Singapore. The bank's dominant presence in Asia contributes to its competitive advantage in FX for client services, innovative digital solutions and as a leading data provider.

State Street is a global powerhouse in FX and has positioned its research as a key differentiator in its market-leading sales offering. Over the review period, the bank introduced new measures for monitoring political risk and improved its capturing of changes in investor and central bank behaviour.

In just five years, FX HedgePool has swiftly transformed from a single-product provider to a multi-service platform, serving over 40 major financial institutions worldwide. This growth is driven by a robust emphasis on research and development, with two major product releases each month that keep its offerings aligned with the evolving market demands.

By April 2023, CME Group had become the largest centralized FX venue globally, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). BIS data shows that more volume is now traded in CME Group FX futures than on the two primary OTC spot markets combined. The group also recently realigned its FX futures, options and EBS cash markets business to create a single FX business, in a bid to further boost client service, increase efficiencies and enhance product development across the entire FX marketplace.