MarkitSERV, an electronic trade processing service for OTC derivatives, has agreed heads of terms with four FX interdealer brokers (IDBs) to provide voice trade affirmation, regulatory reporting and clearing services for FX transactions. 

With a single connection into the MarkitSERV FX trade processing platform, BGC Partners, GFI Group, Tradition and Tullett Prebon would be the first four interdealer brokerage firms to benefit from fully-integrated voice affirmation, clearing and regulatory reporting workflows.

This market-leading initiative is designed to assist IDBs to transition effectively to a regulated FX trading environment, including requirements to execute trades using swap execution facilities (SEFs). By providing seamless access to all FX clearinghouses, clearing brokers and futures clearing merchants, as well as global and regional trade repositories, MarkitSERV offers IDBs and other entities that may become SEFs a single system for complying with regulations applied to FX trading.

Mike Lawrence, CAO FX options and CEEMEA trading, CitiFX, says: “We look forward to benefiting from MarkitSERVs enhanced voice trade affirmation platform that addresses some of the industry’s previously unsolved challenges in the clearing and reporting workflows.  The platform paves the way for future developments to increase trader productivity whilst continuing to reduce operational risk.”

Keith Tippell (pictured), co-head of FX at MarkitSERV, says: “We are very excited to be working with market leading brokers to help them to navigate successfully through the enormous data management and workflow challenges arising – now and in the future – from regulatory change.  Our innovative solution will address broad-based industry concerns about the impact of change, for example the generation and distribution of USIs, and will address the connectivity challenges all market participants face.”