Tullett plots a new FX platform ahead of fresh regulation
TULLETT Prebon is set to launch an electronic platform for interbank currency trading in the run up to expected changes in the system of global regulation.
The interdealer broker, led by City veteran Terry Smith (pictured), wants to use technology it already owns to build a foreign exchange trading platform, focused on currency derivatives at first.
The move was hinted at in Tullett’s results last week, when the firm outlined the success of tpSwapdeal, its hybrid interest rate swap trading platform.
“We intend to launch similar platforms for a number of other products, which are designed to be effective within both the current trading landscape and under all currently anticipated regional regulatory environments,” it said.
At the time Smith, the chief executive, warned the firm faced higher costs from developing new electronic platforms and dealing with extra regulation. Tullett has not disclosed a date for the launch but is working on the basis of regulatory changes in the European Union and the US over the next year.
Last week the broker, which matches buyers and sellers of currencies, bonds and swaps, said pre-tax profits for 2011 were £119.2m, a drop of 15 per cent