Citi, a global investment bank based in New York, has consolidated its electronic forex (eFX) trading platforms used by corporate and professional investors into one single dealer platform known as Velocity 3.0. Citi released a statement on this consolidation that the new platform was created using HTML5 technology.
Citi integrates eFX trading into a single dealer platform
Citi said that Velocity 3.0 is in charge of delivering the eFX offerings offered by the bank. One of these platforms is CitiFX Pulse, which supports a wide range of financial assets such as forex spot, forward, swap pricing, and non-deliverable forwards.
The other offering is Citi Velocity Trading, a platform offering access to the City capital markets services for financial assets like equities, forex, futures, and rates. Velocity 3.0 will also comprise Citi Velocity Research and CitiFX Click, which is the post-trading reporting platform that the bank uses.
The Global Head of Electronics Platforms at CitiFX, Ala’a Saeed, said that velocity 3.0 would offer access to all the offerings available on the platform. The platform was also created with technology capabilities in mind to deliver digital solutions to the bank’s clients.
“Velocity 3.0 provides a complete client offering: clients can mix-and-match the best of what CitiFX has to offer, delivering eFX á la carte via a host of connectivity solutions. The new HTML architecture framework has boosted performance across the platform, allowing us to bring together our richest digital solution to date,” Saeed said.
Citi has further said that Velocity 3.0 worked alongside some leading operating systems. Additionally, this platform can be accessed on mobile applications, web browsers, and desktops. City said that the single dealer platform was a “platform-independent technology.”
Citi wants to redress service fragmentation
Citi issued a press statement explaining that the company had decided to develop a new single consolidated platform to address matters such as liquidity availability, transparency, and operational license. Such problems are usually prevalent because of the fragmentation of eFX services.
The bank explained that fragmentation was the byproduct of the proliferation of the platform. Velocity 3.0 would also focus on improving speeds, which further adds to enhancing the user experience. Citi said that by comparing Velocity 3.0 with other platforms, the former was 71% faster in deal booking and 94% faster in order placement response.
The Global Head of Markets Technology at Citi, Jon Lofthouse, said the platform had integrated the best cloud technology. Moreover, it also used Micro Front Ends to improve trading efficiency.
By adopting some of the best technological features, Lofthouse said that Velocity 3.0 was an agile and scalable solution. It supported the rapid addition of new features for users. It also allowed Citi to respond promptly to client feedback, which was a positive attribute that could help the bank gradually improve its offerings and launch features aligned with customer needs.