FX Alliance

FX Alliance, now operating as LSEG FX under the London Stock Exchange Group, is an electronic trading platform specializing in the foreign exchange market. The firm was established in 2000 as a consortium of 16 banking institutions, with Philip Weisberg as a key figure in its development, leading the company from its inception as CEO. Weisberg, an electrical engineering major who started his career at J.P. Morgan, was instrumental in developing FXall within the bank's LabMorgan technology incubator before it was spun out as an independent entity in 2001. Under his leadership, the company grew significantly, achieving a successful IPO before its strategic acquisition.

The company's history is marked by a significant milestone in 2012 when Thomson Reuters acquired it for approximately $625 million. This event integrated FXall's extensive buy-side client base with Thomson Reuters' established position in the inter-bank FX market. Subsequently, following the sale of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters' Financial & Risk unit to Blackstone, FXall became part of the newly formed Refinitiv in 2018, which was later acquired by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). The platform is currently undergoing a re-platforming onto LSEG's Millennium technology to enhance processing speeds.

FXall provides a comprehensive suite of electronic trading solutions tailored for institutional clients, which include asset managers, corporations, hedge funds, banks, and broker-dealers. The business model centers on providing a multi-dealer platform that facilitates efficient price discovery and trade execution in the FX market. It operates as a foreign exchange aggregator, connecting over 2,300 institutional clients with liquidity from more than 200 bank and non-bank market makers. The platform supports trading in a wide array of instruments, including FX spot, forwards, swaps, non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), and options, as well as spot trading for gold and silver. Its revenue is generated from the high volume of transactions executed on the platform.

The platform offers a robust set of features designed to streamline the entire trading lifecycle, from pre-trade analysis to post-trade settlement. Key functionalities include advanced order types, algorithmic execution, a Portfolio Order Management System (POMS) for managing complex orders, and various execution methods like Request for Quote (RFQ) and anonymous trading via a central limit order book. FXall is designed to be embedded within clients' workflows, offering straight-through processing (STP) and integration with major Order Management Systems (OMS). A significant benefit for clients is the platform's independence, as it does not trade for its own account, ensuring it does not take positions against its users. The platform also provides tools to help clients meet regulatory requirements such as Dodd-Frank and MiFID II through its Swap Execution Facility (SEF) and Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF).

Keywords: foreign exchange trading, FX platform, electronic trading, LSEG FX, Refinitiv, institutional FX, multi-dealer platform, FXall, Philip Weisberg, currency trading, FX spot, FX forwards, FX swaps, NDFs, liquidity aggregation, algorithmic trading, trade execution, post-trade processing, transaction cost analysis, straight-through processing, financial software, fintech, asset managers, corporate treasury, hedge funds, broker-dealers