Nomura, Asia's global investment bank, has announced the launch of an electronic foreign exchange (e-FX) pricing and trading engine in Singapore, with support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Nomura, Asia's global investment bank, has announced the launch of an electronic foreign exchange (e-FX) pricing and trading engine in Singapore, with support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

"As a global financial services group with a strong presence in Singapore, we are fully committed to supporting the city-state's development as a major global FX hub. This initiative, which is expected to go live later this year, will help support our clients with better infrastructure for execution, improved access to liquidity and effective price discovery," said Rig Karkhanis, Deputy Head of Global Markets and Global Head of FX and Emerging Markets, Nomura.

The launch is aligned with MAS's strategic plan to strengthen Singapore's standing as a major trading and corporate treasury hub, and develop its FX market to serve the growing trading and hedging needs in the region.

"MAS welcomes Nomura's establishment of its FX pricing and matching engine in Singapore. It will bolster the build-up of a critical mass of market participants in our FX e-trading ecosystem, and strengthen Singapore's proposition as a leading FX hub in the Asian time zone," said Lim Cheng Khai, Executive Director, Financial Markets Development, MAS.

This will be Nomura's fourth e-FX pricing engine following others in Tokyo, London and New York. Its ability to plug into Singapore's e-FX infrastructure will benefit Nomura's Asian client base, as the group continues its focus on non-deliverable forwards and G10 FX in the region.