FX trading not ready to benefit from safeguards of blockchain
Skip to main content
pilogo-NEW
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • login
  • NEWS
    • Asset owners and the coronavirus
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • Frontlines
    • Hedge Funds
    • Investing / Portfolio Strategies
    • Money Management
    • Pension Funds
    • People Moves
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Searches & Hires News
    • SECURE Act
    • Special Reports
    • WorldPensionSummit
    • Ron Schmitz
      Pandemic drives faster transition for Virginia to private markets
      Mubadala Investment Co. logo
      Mubadala draws on portfolio in coronavirus fight
      T.J. Carlson
      Texas Muni reduces downside risk during pandemic, finding opportunities now
      Scott Davis
      ‘Triage plan’ at Indiana system helped stem losses
    • KKR lifts out 3 to focus on clean energy infrastructure
      Richard Johnson
      Appian Capital Advisory adds global investor relations head
      Alternative investment funds faced liquidity squeezes in COVID-19 crisis and 2019
      CI Financial launches global real estate, infrastructure joint venture
    • Callan brings on 2 executives
      Hub International agrees to buy Plan Sponsor Consultants
      Aon names public markets solution leader
      Deloitte to acquire Sydney-based consulting firm Rice Warner
    • Alternative investment funds faced liquidity squeezes in COVID-19 crisis and 2019
      Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, listens during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington on Dec. 1, 2020
      Fed saw some time before taper conditions met – minutes
      International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings signage at the IMF headquarters in Washington
      IMF upgrades global growth forecast, warns of diverging recoveries
      A cashier standing behind a protective barrier assists a customer at a Peter Harris Clothes store in Latham, N.Y.
      Job growth tops 900,000 in March as hiring broadens
    • Pentegra launches pooled-employer plan
      Teresa Hassara
      Ascensus taps MassMutual alum as new FuturePlan president
      Economic Group Pension Services scoops up third-party administrator
      OregonSaves gathers $100 million in assets
    • Shoppers wear protective masks while visiting an Apple Inc. store at George Street in Sydney, Australia, on June 24, 2020.
      Apple backs SEC mandate on climate disclosure
      Emissions rise from the Kentucky Utilities Co. Ghent generating station in Ghent, Ky.
      Investors, businesses call for ambitious emissions goals
      Signage for Temasek Holdings Pte. is displayed during a news conference following the company's annual review in Singapore
      Temasek, BlackRock partner to launch carbon-cutting funds
      New York state pension fund limits oil sands investments
    • Ken Griffin
      Ken Griffin donates $5 million to give Miami students internet
      New book culls institutional wisdom from podcast series
      Fearless Girl
      SSGA’s Fearless Girl statue now shattering glass ceiling
      Tangen video
      Norges chief dons chef’s hat to boost employees’ spirits
    • Hedge funds post best first-quarter return since 2000
      Jason Kephart
      Managers see good times ahead in 2021
      Jev Mehmet, CEO of Brevan Howard's Coremont unit
      Brevan Howard runs $50 billion unit like BlackRock’s Aladdin
      A sign outside a Credit Suisse Group bank branch in Murten, Switzerland
      Credit Suisse, Nomura slump as banks tally Archegos damage
    • Mirova adds proxy voting and engagement leader
      S&P Global holds fast on New Jersey’s long-term debt rating
      New York University revamps options for 5 DC plans
    • Mirova adds proxy voting and engagement leader
      Erick Bronner
      Palladium Equity Partners picks new head of fundraising and investor relations
      The Euro sculpture illuminated outside the Eurotower, the former headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt on Dec. 15, 2020
      European manager AUM rises to record $12.7 trillion in 2020
      Lydia Wu
      Barings chooses head of Greater China distribution
    • Kansas City Employees adopts global strategy with small-cap swing
      Michael C. Viteri
      Arizona appoints new CIO
      A £10 sterling bank note with a pound coin and a ballpoint pen, with focus on the word 'pension.'
      U.K. defined benefit plans’ surplus surges in March
      Columbia University professor Takatoshi Ito
      GPIF treads water as ESG picks up pace
    • Mirova adds proxy voting and engagement leader
      Erick Bronner
      Palladium Equity Partners picks new head of fundraising and investor relations
      Callan brings on 2 executives
      Michael C. Viteri
      Arizona appoints new CIO
    • Bills of euro, dollar and pound currencies, among others
      Ardian closes latest buyout fund at $8.8 billion
      Hand typing on stationary iPhone at an office reception desk
      Private equity’s taste for tech spurs $80 billion deal spree
      Vista Equity promotes 2 to leadership roles on 2 funds
      Azimut takes minority stake in HighPost
    • CalSTRS indutrial property
      Investors hungry for industrial properties
      Tim Wang
      GLP names co-president of logistics, industrial real estate for China
      Frank Forster
      StepStone Real Estate adds managing director for Europe
      Christine Iacoucci
      BentallGreenOak promotes from within to fill Canadian CIO role
    • Andy Schreiner
      New PEPs targeting firms without retirement plans
      Jackie Walorski
      Contribution catch-up for caregivers gaining favor
      Retirement cartoon
      Hopes rising for retirement readiness in 2021
      Neal and Brady
      Retirement security could be only issue both sides accept
    • Corporate pension contributions
      Eddy Awards 2021
      COVID-19: One year in
      Charging Bull, sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull, a bronze sculpture that stands on Broadway just north of Bowling Green in the Financial District of New York City
      Top-performing managers Q4 2020
    • U.S. still a key market for investors
      Collected coverage of P&I's 2020 WorldPensionSummit
      Pedestrians pass a large advertisement on the Arndale Center shopping mall reading 'Act now to avoid a local lockdown' in Manchester, England
      COVID-19 puts new opportunities and risks on the agenda - WPS panelists
      Screens display stock price information over the trading floor of the NYSE Euronext exchange in Paris
      Private assets will continue to grow in portfolios – WPS panelists
  • Data
    • Research Center
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • Searches & Hires News
    • RFPs
    • Charts / Infographics
    • Sponsored Research
    • Trackers
    • Q2 2020 searches and hires overview report
      Q2 2020 money manager M&A activity summary
      Q2 2020 legal overview report
      Q1 2020 searches and hires overview report
    • Insurer Phoenix chooses Barings for real estate debt allocation
      Texas Employees discloses $246 million in commitments
      New York University revamps options for 5 DC plans
      Riverside County adds BlackRock bond fund, drops Templeton fund
    • Insurer Phoenix chooses Barings for real estate debt allocation
      Texas Employees discloses $246 million in commitments
      New York University revamps options for 5 DC plans
      Riverside County adds BlackRock bond fund, drops Templeton fund
    • Passive Investment Management Services
      Active Extended Global Credit Manager Search
      Actuarial Services
      Investment Management Services
    • Managed account adoption stalls in 2020
      U.S. bonds have worst quarterly return since 1981
      Stable value retains edge over money market funds
      Taiwan Semiconductor’s No. 1 in the emerging markets book
    • Institutional Investors: Shared Expectations, Divergent Paths
      Global Investor Study 2016
      Workplace Financial Wellness
    • U.S. Endowment Returns Tracker
      Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      Earnings Tracker
      Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
  • Insights
    • Opinion
    • White Papers
    • Industry Voices
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Partner Content
    • Publisher's Update
    • CalPERS cartoon
      Urgency underscores CalPERS' search for a CIO
      Multiemployer plans cartoon
      Money — but no fixes — for multiemployer plans
      Vaccination cartoon
      Rallying to meet the ongoing COVID-19 challenge
      Tesla cartoon
      Don’t confuse wealth creation with retirement saving
    • Bipsync Client Stories: RMS in Action at Pensions and Superannuation Funds
      COVID-19 Makes LP Portfolio Management More Important Than Ever
      China: the outlook is bright for longer-term investors
      Finding Differentiation in Securitized Assets
    • Greg Shea and Steven Kindred
      Commentary: The solution for yield-seeking allocators may be hiding in plain sight
      Jim Park
      Commentary: Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders face ‘bamboo ceiling’ in money management
      Jared Gross
      Commentary: Anchors and allocations – breaking the grip of 60/40
      Peter Marber
      Commentary: Is it time for an emerging markets rally?
    • Writer using a typewriter
      OCIO industry needs to adopt GIPS
      Writer or journalist workplace. stock illustration
      Even as it assails China, Trump administration emulates it
      Skeptical of Main Street support for proxy adviser proposal
      Focus on manager diversity pushes asset owners’ to walk the talk
    • P&I Content Solutions
      Research for Institutional Money Management
      P&I Content Solutions
      Top questions for institutional investors
      Sponsored Content By Newton Investment Management
      Growth and Innovation in Emerging Markets
      P&I Content Solutions
      In Challenging Markets, Systematic Global Macro Strategies Could Hold Opportunity
    • Help us help you by supporting quality journalism
      You Must Believe in Spring
      Everything Must Change
      Tomatoes & Investments
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Polls
    • Slideshows
    • Charts / Infographics
    • watch video
      1:23
      The passive fixed-income glut
      watch video
      1:38
      Is it time for DC plans to embrace private equity?
      watch video
      5:39
      The coronavirus pandemic: One year later
      watch video
      0:45
      Private funds weathered 2020 turmoil
    • Understanding the PEP Evolution
      Divest or engage?
      New Outlook on Income: A Framework for Evaluating DC Retirement Income Solutions
      Innovations in DC: Helping supercharge retirement outcomes
    • POLL: The Biden infrastructure plan
      POLL: Retirement income solutions
      POLL: Working after the pandemic
      POLL: The year ahead for the 1,000 largest U.S. retirement funds
    • view gallery
      9 photos
      Coronavirus and the markets
      view gallery
      22 photos
      The 1,000 largest retirement funds: 2020
      view gallery
      10 photos
      Outlook 2020
      view gallery
      10 photos
      2019 as seen through the eyes of Roger
    • Managed account adoption stalls in 2020
      U.S. bonds have worst quarterly return since 1981
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Webinars
    • DC Investment Lineup Virtual Series
      ESG Investing Virtual Series
      Private Markets Virtual Series
    • Understanding the PEP Evolution
      Divest or engage?
      New Outlook on Income: A Framework for Evaluating DC Retirement Income Solutions
      Innovations in DC: Helping supercharge retirement outcomes
  • Careers
  • Research Center
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. TRADING
November 30, 2015 12:00 AM

FX trading not ready to benefit from safeguards of blockchain

Foreign-exchange pace said to be too much for burgeoning technology

Rick Baert
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Global Trading Analytics' John Halligan:'Change in this business tends to come slowly. Think about how long it's taken to go from voice brokers to electronic trading.'

    Updated with correction

    The promise of blockchain technology in financial services could apply to foreign-exchange trading in the future, but for now, sources said, FX isn't ready to cash in on the technology behind bitcoin.

    The parallel between bitcoin and foreign-exchange trades is there, however. Potential application of FX to blockchain technology, which essentially records and stores transactions as well as account balances, could dovetail with recent moves toward more 24-hour FX pricing and less use of traditional FX benchmarks.

    “The interesting part of block-chain is that it was created in sort of a foreign-exchange paradigm, given that it was originally intended for a cyber currency in the bitcoin,” said Terry Roche, principal and head of fintech research, TABB Group, New York.

    But, Mr. Roche and others added, that's where the currency parallels end.

    Bitcoin transactions through the blockchain are “minuscule” compared with the sheer volume of FX trades, the largest securities market in the world with average daily trading volume of about 5 billion, said John Halligan, president, Global Trading Analytics LLC, Rutherford, N.J. “Change in this business tends to come slowly,” said Mr. Halligan. “Think about how long it's taken to go from voice brokers to electronic trading.”

    Foreign exchange “is a very fast market with a tremendous amount of volume,” said Daniel Connell, managing director, head of market strategy and technology, Greenwich Associates, Stamford, Conn. “The blockchain as it currently exists would fall woefully short in being able to handle that volume, in terms of vast amounts of transactions per second that's needed for FX trading. But it's still early days. I would think to something like foreign exchange, it might be a stretch now but maybe not in the future. Like with all new technology, it's best to walk before we can run. We should walk right away, but not run until we're ready.”

    One reason FX applications of blockchain technology should be taken slowly is because the foreign exchange market is already a heavily electronic marketplace. Other settlement processes, Mr. Roche said, are seen as more applicable now to the blockchain because they're more driven by manual back-office processes, add: such as syndicated loans.

    “Whether the technology can handle the volume and velocity of FX trading, there's really not an application of that yet,” said Mr. Roche. “The first place for financial services most likely to begin with blockchain is with syndicated loans. Right now, reconciling those loans uses a manually driven process that takes more than 20 days. Since it's highly manual, it's a good place to start.”

    Added Sean Ristau, head of wealth management and derivatives at Raptor Trading Systems Inc. Columbia, Md.: “It's important to note that many firms are working under the covers on items like this. The technology in its current state is most viable for the settlement and clearing process.” Mr. Ristau is co-chairman of the Digital Currency and Blockchain Working Group at FIX Trading Community, a London-based industry group that establishes standards for trading.

    “Blockchain could work” for FX, said Greenwich's Mr. Connell, “but you'd really have to think about all the implications. Would it be a public blockchain with proof of work? You're talking about adding orders of magnitude (an exponential change in valuing foreign exchange); who's going to do that? And how will that be compensated? And if it's a private blockchain, how do you do that with some many participants? There are so many things to be worked out; that's not happening anytime soon.”

    Safe alternative

    Foreign-exchange-related fines in the past six months against major banks over market manipulation have led some to see the blockchain as a safe alternative for FX. Most recently, the New York state Department of Financial Services on Nov. 18 levied an additional $150 million fine against Barclays PLC over the bank's last-minute rejection of unprofitable trades through its automated electronic system. That fine was on top of a combined $1.4 billion in fines levied against the firm by New York state regulators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority in May.

    But Mr. Connell said that while the blockchain is seen as more secure than traditional Internet-based systems, it isn't risk-free. “We don't completely alleviate all concerns about risk with the blockchain,” Mr. Connell said. “There's a lot of safety and security in the public and disruptive nature of it. But there are bad actors out there, and is foreign exchange interesting enough to have bad actors try and take advantage of it? Hard to say. But there's always the possibility of that risk.”

    Given the technology is suited more for back-office functions like settlements, applying the blockchain to FX could be done, but it wouldn't alleviate concerns over market manipulation, or lawsuits over standing instruction transaction in which the timing and pricing of trades is left to a custodial bank, said John Betts, founder and CEO, Noble Markets, a New York-based capital markets settlement firm now looking to apply blockchain technology to capital markets.

    “This is not a blockchain problem,” said Mr. Betts. “There's a lot of talk about blockchain solving all sorts of problem, including foreign exchange; just like years ago when people thought the Internet would solve all our problems. But blockchain doesn't change business problems, just how we communicate. It all comes down to a fundamental misconception on where blockchain fits in the financial ecosystem. Blockchain sits in the back office, but FX is a front-office problem. Blockchain works if I have euros that I need to send somewhere directly, It doesn't solve the problem of how you change them to another currency.

    “Ultimately, the blockchain is just a database,” Mr. Betts added. “These problems are more structural, created by how markets have evolved over the years.”

    Related Articles
    Suits cause FX trading costs to plummet
    6 banks to pay $5.6 billion over manipulating foreign-exchange markets
    Blockchain set to rock industry with tech magic
    Threadneedle fined £6 million for inadequate controls in front-office operations
    11 banks complete experiment using blockchain technology
    More asset owners see future blockchain implementation than managers — survey
    Bank for International Settlements sets principles for global FX code
    Morgan Stanley to pay $1 million to settle SEC cybersecurity breach charges
    Financial firms among those targeted in SEC 10-K 'phishing' attack
    Recommended for You
    BNP Paribas AM chooses global head of trading
    BNP Paribas AM chooses global head of trading
    MiFID II prompts 7,500 years of lost analyst experience
    MiFID II prompts 7,500 years of lost analyst experience
    Outsourced trading becoming side effect of virus for managers
    Outsourced trading becoming side effect of virus for managers
    Research for Institutional Money Management
    Sponsored Content: Research for Institutional Money Management
    sponsored
    Events
     
     
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Bipsync Client Stories: RMS in Action at Pensions and Superannuation Funds
    COVID-19 Makes LP Portfolio Management More Important Than Ever
    China: the outlook is bright for longer-term investors
    Finding Differentiation in Securitized Assets
    Green and sustainable bonds in emerging markets
    Portfolio Protection: One Size Fits None
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    April 5, 2021 Page One

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    pilogo-NEW
    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    150 N. Michigan Ave.
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • NEWS
      • Asset owners and the coronavirus
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • Frontlines
      • Hedge Funds
      • Investing / Portfolio Strategies
      • Money Management
      • Pension Funds
      • People Moves
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Searches & Hires News
      • SECURE Act
      • Special Reports
      • WorldPensionSummit
    • Data
      • Research Center
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • Searches & Hires News
      • RFPs
      • Charts / Infographics
      • Sponsored Research
      • Trackers
    • Insights
      • Opinion
      • White Papers
      • Industry Voices
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Partner Content
      • Publisher's Update
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Webinars
      • Polls
      • Slideshows
      • Charts / Infographics
    • Events
      • Conferences
      • Webinars
    • Careers
    • Research Center