BofA Merrill Lynch joins 5 top banks providing FX options liquidity to FENICS Trader
New York, June 20, 2011 – GFI FENICS, part of GFI Group Inc. (NYSE: GFIG),announced today that BofA Merrill Lynch has gone live as a liquidity provider on its FX options platform FENICS Trader™. The bank will initially support options across 44 currency pairs.
FENICS Trader, the pioneering e-Commerce solution for FX options, provides users with multi-bank FX options liquidity from a single user interface. Launched in February 2011 after a successful test period, trade volumes & notional amounts continue to increase as the product is rolled out.
Liam Hudson, Global Head of E-FX Trading at BofA Merrill Lynch, said, “We are pleased to support FENICS Trader with liquidity. Our aim is to provide our clients with a combination of high quality price support and the best possible service experience”. He added, “BofA Merrill Lynch liquidity will further enhance the value of FENICS Trader for our clients. Expanding our eFX options capability is a key part of BofA Merrill Lynch’s strategy to grow the FX franchise”.
Richard Brunt, Global Head of GFI FENICS stated, “We are delighted that a bank of the stature of BofA Merrill Lynch has agreed to support FENICS Trader and our many mutual clients with its liquidity. This will help maintain the very encouraging growth we have seen in trade volumes since our launch.”
BofA Merrill Lynch joins a growing liquidity pool on FENICS Trader, including BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, UBS and Unicredit Bank AG.
Brunt added: “FENICS Trader continues to be well supported by the market-making banks, with other banks to go live in the coming months. The breadth of market coverage on FENICS Trader is very compelling and provides our clients very competitive prices in a single interface”.
FENICS Trader is available to clients via the FENICS Professional™ platform. FENICS Professional is a suite of pricing, trading, risk management and STP components allowing customers to control, monitor and oversee every aspect of FX option trading and lifecycle management from a single interface.
GFI FENICS has been providing leading FX derivatives software since 1987. Its products are licensed to over 350 client firms worldwide – financial institutions and corporations – with thousands of users benefiting from its solutions.