EBS Announces Launch Of Full Commercial Service With 325 Customers On Board

Today marks the launch by UK-based ICAP's electronic FX division EBS of its commercial service, which has gone live following a period of beta testing prior to its availability.

EBS has announced that the service, which has been unveiled under the designation EBS Direct, is now fully operational and available to all customers.

Both Liquidity providers and consumers contributed invaluable feedback during the beta program, and traded in a live environment during this testing phase.

The ethos behind the platform, according to EBS, is that it delivers an aggregated price, displaying the best bid/offer and book of all selected Liquidity Providers for any given liquidity consumer, essentially serving as an aggregation solution for those who trade on the EBS platform.

EBS Direct has a number of features which EBS developed in order to make trading more efficient, an example of which is the adoption of a one-click trading facility on the best dealable bid/offer prices, in order to provide faster execution.

Further features include depth of book and amount views in order to show the inventory available in the order book, and the screen incorporates trader deals, deal log and net position on its display.

Volume Increment Via Technology - A Hot Topic

During yesterday's FX Technology Panel at the Forex Magnates London Summit which is currently taking place at the Grange Hotel in St. Pauls, a question was posed as to whether the increasing complexity and advancement of technology is driving an increase in overall trading volumes.

EBS CTO Viral Tolet responded by mentioning that more than just being a driver of volumes due to the advent of electronic trading, technology is leading to an advancement of distribution.

With today's launch, CLS eligibility exists for all EBS Direct pairs that are enabled for CLS on EBS Market, and subsequent to an evaluation period in which liquidity providers and EBS customers participated, 325 customers, 30 of whom are non-bank participants, have been on-boarded by EBS, with volumes, according to the company, growing steadily.

EBS Directprovides relationship-based disclosed liquidity alongside EBS Market, the company’s flagship anonymous matching platform for spot FX. Liquidity providers are able to stream tighter, tailored prices direct to liquidity consumers and offer greater inventory via a flexible, scalable and cost effective solution that integrates easily with existing trading systems.

Jeff Ward, Global Head of EBS Direct, made a commercial statement with regard to the launch of EBS Direct today in that, “With the launch of EBS Direct we’re leveraging the EBS network and infrastructure, which has proven to be robust and resilient over time in all market conditions. We have every confidence that EBS Direct will add real value to the market by delivering additional liquidity and trading opportunities for customers to ensure we continue to deliver a differentiated offering that meets the market’s evolving needs.”

Gil Mandelzis, CEO of EBS, further added: “I am thrilled that throughout this whole launch process for EBS Direct the support and feedback from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. EBS Direct has all the elements of a fair, orderly and transparent market for all platform participants and offers genuine, executable liquidity. It is built on the trusted relationships that everyone who has dealt with EBS has come to expect.”