Financial news

LMAX Group, an operator of institutional exchanges for trading FX and digital assets, is expanding its global technology infrastructure in Asia Pacific.

The Group has been growing its presence in Asia Pacific since 2014 when it launched its Tokyo matching engine, TY3. It also opened a regional hub in Singapore in June 2015.

Earlier this year, it launched a matching engine in the Equinix IBX Data Centre in Singapore (SG1). SG1 is the fourth matching engine run by LMAX Group globally.

According to the company, it is focused on building its presence in APAC, while delivering a competitive range of products and services to meet the increasing needs of institutions locally.

The addition of SG1 to its infrastructure footprint builds regional liquidity and adds significant value for the local financial eco-system. LMAX Group sees additional potential to enhance market access to this institutional liquidity by establishing an Asia Pacific corridor between its twin hubs (TY3 and SG1).

Meeting demand

David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, explains: “Singapore is the largest FX trading centre in Asia Pacific and a major FX centre globally. We recognise the strong demand for deep institutional liquidity and transparent, efficient price discovery that the CLOB execution model delivers to market participants in the region.

“Furthermore, we have seen considerable growth in trading volumes in our TY3- based exchange, with increasing participation from both global and local financial institutions. Over time, we aim to establish a unique multi-asset liquidity offering for the region, combining our capabilities, distribution and infrastructure across both Japan and Singapore to benefit our global customer base.”

Lim Cheng Khai, executive director, financial markets development department at Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said, “We welcome the launch of LMAX Group’s matching engine in SG1 to deepen the liquidity of the FX market in Singapore and support the needs of market participants in the region. Singapore has cemented our position as the third largest global FX centre, and LMAX Group will be a significant addition to the attractiveness and vibrancy of our FX ecosystem.”

LMAX Group also intends to offer trading of non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) in early 2023. In addition, it will extend its global digital and broker offering to the wider Asia pacific region from Singapore.