FXSpotStream Launches Spot FX Aggregation Service With Six Banks

Six leading banks have signed up to provide liquidity to a new multibank price aggregation service for spot foreign-exchange trading run by FXSpotStream LLC, the firm said Friday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Inc (C), Commerzbank AG (CRZBY), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS), HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) are signed up to the U.S. launch, FXSpotStream said.

FXSpotStream, a subsidiary of LiquidityMatch LLC, will provide clients with liquidity and facilitate communication between the banks involved.

"We are very pleased to be involved in bringing to market a solution that will allow clients a more efficient, less expensive way to deal directly with Citi and all other FX banks connected to the FXSpotStream solution," Fergal Walsh, co-head of FX electronic trading at Citi, said in a press release.

FXSpotStream said it plans to launch the service from its hosted sites in Europe in the second quarter of 2012 and in Asia in the third quarter. It confirmed that it won't be charging a brokerage fee for the service.

The new service is run by CEO Alan Schwartz who was previously a chief operating officer at interbank broker ICAP North America (IAPLY) according to his LinkedIn profile.

-By Alexandra Fletcher; 44 20 7842 9462; [e-mail]