e-Forex

By Charles Glah, CFA UK (ASIP) In 1967, Robert McNamara’s war command was generating impressive data. Body counts were rising. Kill ratios were improving. By every headline indicator, the United States was advancing. The problem — which took years and enormous cost to acknowledge — was that the measurement had become a substitute for the outcome. What could be counted was counted.

Settlement risk remains a persistent problem in the FX market despite years of efforts of mitigation. Significant progress has been made but a number of structural issues are keeping this risk alive. Firstly, payment versus payment (PvP) coverage, which has done so much to reduce settlement risk, is incomplete. Secondly, the growth of emerging market FX continues unabated, as does the involvement of non-bank participants, which bring liquidity and funding pressures respectively.

Paul Golden investigates how APIs in FX are evolving from external connectivity tools into internal control mechanisms which are increasingly being used to stitch together controlled, endtoend flows. APIs have evolved into the core architecture of systematic trading, expanding heavily into complex derivatives like FX options and swaps. This shift reflects a market structure where speed, automation and automated rules-based trading frameworks are critical to managing complex portfolios.

Paul Golden examines the core challenges facing leading digital asset settlement providers and how these issues are being addressed. Fragmented liquidity remains one of the biggest operational challenges in digital asset markets, affecting both the asset and liability sides of settlement.

iSAM Securities has launched Radar Lite, a leaner, more cost-effective version of its Radar risk management platform, designed for growing brokers looking for sharper risk visibility without heavy onboarding or enterprise-level spend. Built to provide practical, accessible behavioural intelligence, Radar Lite delivers many of the essential capabilities from the existing Radar platform within a streamlined operational framework.

TransferMate has announced the launch of a new FX Hedging product with risk management capabilities designed to help businesses mitigate FX volatility, manage international payment exposure, and improve certainty over cross-border cash flow. The new solution expands TransferMate’s broader financial infrastructure offering, which already enables businesses to pay, receive, and store funds globally.

Ralph Achkar, Head of Digital Currency Strategy at 360T, outlines the strategy, architecture and institutional design principles behind the launch of 3DX — a digital asset trading platform built on proven FX infrastructure. While the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continues to fluctuate significantly  Deutsche Börse Group’s (DBG) strategic commitment to the digital asset space remains strong and consistent, as evidenced by the launch of 360T’s new digital exchange, 3DX.

SGX FX has announced that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) has joined the SGX FX ecosystem as a Liquidity Provider, expanding institutional access to FX options and enhancing liquidity across CAD, USD and other major global currency markets. CIBC will initially provide liquidity in OTC FX Options, with plans to extend its participation into OTC cash FX over time.

The latest BIS FX survey confirmed what many participants and fintech’s across the market already knew – FX options are becoming one of the fastest-growing segments of global foreign exchange trading. As a reminder FX Options Average Daily Volume (ADV) doubled according to the BIS report from 2022 to 2025 at $634 billion. While spot and swaps FX remain enormous, the strategic energy increasingly sits elsewhere — in volatility, optionality and more sophisticated hedging and trading workflows.

Tim Hutchinson, Head of Global FX and Electronic Execution, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) spoke to e-Forex about why putting clients first is a cornerstone of its success and how its e-FX services are improving execution, optimising workflows, lowering costs and helping with the banks’ pivotal and strategic role in boosting global ZAR trading. I have been fortunate to have a 2-decade career in FX across sales, e-FX product and Trading.