The race to redefine FX trading is on. According to the recent Coalition Greenwich report, multi-dealer platforms (MDPs) are poised to overtake single-dealer platforms (SDPs) in spot FX trading in 2025 – a stark reversal of recent years where SDPs dominated. 

Amid these changes, banks need to adapt so they can meet their clients wherever they are and deliver on best execution requirements. To get ahead of the competition, banks need to upgrade their technology to enable faster price discovery, bespoke price creation and improved risk management. At the same time, we’re seeing more sophisticated buy-side firms utilising API first architecture to directly embed banks’ services and functionalities into their own workflows, creating new opportunities for dealers, provided they have the right technology.  

The message is clear: future success hinges on mastering MDP, SDP and API trading ecosystems. The key lies in leveraging venue-neutral, multi-channel technology to build a robust distribution platform. From there, banks can focus on delivering a unique trading experience tailored to their clients – on any platform, in any environment. 

Mark Suter, executive chair, Digital Vega 

In 2025, we expect the see the FX options market automate further, with more regional and private banks implementing workflow automation technology solutions. As their clients want to trade electronically and trade sizes reduce, many banks are having to implement technology to manage a larger volume of price requests and more tickets to process. A key focus for Digital Vega in 2025 is to continue to roll out our white label electronic platform to client banks. This increases workflow efficiency and capacity, and also allows banks to price trades themselves or source prices from our multibank platform, which enables increased currency coverage. 

Next year will also see the full production launch of our FX options CLOB. We have spent a long time developing the platform and conducting client testing but held back from a full launch until we could rely on deep liquidity on day one. Now we have most of the main trading firms connected we expect to launch in early 2025. As the CLOB makes interdealer trading more efficient we think that the whole of the FX options market will benefit from increased liquidity and overall volumes will grow as a result. 

Stephan von Massenbach, chief revenue officer, DIGITEC 

The FX swaps market is migrating to electronic channels, and we expect the pace of change to continue through 2025. Clients want to trade FX swaps in multiple currencies, and tenors beyond overnight and tom-next, and banks will only be able to service clients efficiently by implementing scalable technology solutions, where workflows are largely automated – in data, pricing, distribution, and settlement. Also, the velocity of the underlying market has increased which means that banks using Excel to manage their FX swaps books are now turning to technology solutions to keep pace. SaaS technology deployed in the cloud has reduced the investment required to provide accurate and fast FX swaps pricing. 

Interdealer FX swaps trading, which is dominated by the broker market, has begun to migrate to electronic venues, like 360T SUN and LSEG Forwards Matching. We expect more volume to migrate to electronic channels in 2025. 

David Mercer, chief executive officer, LMAX Group 

The foreign exchange (FX) market remains a cornerstone of global trade, yet its pace of innovation lags other areas of capital markets. Despite representing the lifeblood of international economies, significant portions of the market remain untouched by the latest technology and innovation. This leaves ample opportunity for modernisation through blockchain technology as we see increasing fusion between TradFi and decentralised finance.  

Simplified and automated solutions could transform FX, enhancing global price discovery and market access. Looking ahead, there is enormous potential for decentralised models to reshape FX as we know it. Tokenisation would facilitate more dynamic and transparent trading, addressing inefficiencies and increasing participation from diverse players. As sovereign nations strive to maintain control over their currencies, FX innovations can bridge the gap between national interests and meet the demand for a seamless global marketplace. 

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The evolution taking place in fixed income markets has laid the foundation for the recent growth in credit index futures, positioning 2025 as a pivotal year for further proliferation of the product and broad adoption by the market. Advancements we’ve seen in market infrastructure, such as the electronification of trading, real-time bond and ‘liquid’ index pricing, as well as enhanced analytics on Terminal to compute fair value and identify relative value opportunities, have transformed how buy-side firms are managing and trading credit risk. These trends will continue, enabling greater price transparency and standardisation of this market which, historically, aids in the development of exchange traded products like credit index futures. 

The existing contracts provide broad-based exposure to the European, US and emerging market corporate bond markets utilising Bloomberg’s fixed income benchmarks. In 2025, we envision an expansion of this global credit futures complex, allowing investors to target regional credit markets and specific risks such as duration, sectors, or credit quality, providing a more diverse range of tools for those seeking local exposure and precision. This will lead to increased cross-margining opportunities with correlated products, amplifying the utility and cost-effectiveness of the product. 

For global credit, we enter a year of uncertainty in 2025, with resilient corporate fundamentals and potential easing of monetary policy offset by ongoing geopolitical tensions. Investors will continue to find value in a flexible credit vehicle that can be used to deploy capital quickly, express a tactical view or hedge corporate credit exposures. The product will continue to attract a diverse range of market participants, from asset managers to insurers, looking for narrow bid-ask spreads and tight tracking to the benchmark. We expect further normalisation of credit index futures as a core instrument in credit markets.

Charlie Campbell-Johnston, head of automation, international, Tradeweb 

The last few years have thrown fixed income traders one curveball after the other, and automation has proven itself as an effective tool to deliver scalability and time efficiency across different products and through a range of trading protocols. On the other hand, systematic and cross-asset funds have used automation to create new trading activity and realise new strategies. 

The game, however, could change in 2025. A combination of technological innovation and high-quality data would enable traders to adapt their automation parameters to actual real-time market scenarios, giving them even more control over the trade execution process. After all, automation has already transcended its operational efficiency origins and this evolution would cement its hard-earned place at the core of a dynamic and innovative execution desk. 

Tucker Dona, head of business development, Baton Systems 

We are one-year away from the mandatory central clearing of US Treasuries, which is going to have a material impact on the way that firms post margin for this product. Firms wanting to offset the impact of higher margins need to spend 2025 making operational changes and upgrades to optimise their systems for trading and clearing US Treasuries. However, there is still more clarity needed on which CCPs market participants will choose to clear these products, and which model participants will use, such as sponsored or done-away. Thankfully, much of the operational preparation and workload can be done efficiently with support from vendors providing direct connectivity into the CCPs.

If firms are not able to efficiently optimise and mobilise available assets across the range of CCPs they will use for clearing US Treasuries, they are going to face operational and cost challenges. By using data-driven insights to select the most eligible and opportunistic collateral for the different clearing venues and then being able to execute all movement instructions, firms can manage the higher margin levels more effectively. They will also be able to reduce associated costs, and more efficiently manage better their collateral usage and its impact on available liquidity. 

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This year was a pivotal year for digital assets, and we’re seeing strong momentum toward adoption. More and more institutional investors – on both the buy- and sell-side – continue to be getting engaged with this technology. We also saw a lot of progress on the regulatory front, with the SEC’s approval of Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs in the US in 2024, and the first stages of the EU’s MiCA, the first-ever blockchain-related asset regulation, coming into effect.    

We still have our work cut out for us in 2025 and beyond. While we’ve clearly proven the merits of this technology, it’s time to put real applications on the ledger using tokenisation. As we move beyond pilots and start putting projects into production, we’ll need to make sure we’re collectively driving toward an end goal: building an efficient digital market infrastructure and standards. Collaboration is the core ingredient that will help us capture the promise that digital assets hold.

In 2025, we will continue to focus on establishing the digital market infrastructure of the future, showcasing how we can deliver the same efficiencies for digital assets as we do in traditional markets today, while also ensuring smooth market operation, transparency and liquidity.

Rob Hale, head of financial markets, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets

Digital assets look poised to gain traction in wholesale markets next year, driven not only by increased issuance but also by the transformative application of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and smart contracts. While digital asset issuance will continue to expand, the real innovation lies in how DLT and smart contracts have the ability to revolutionise collateral management, moving beyond proof-of-concept to regular market use.

In derivatives markets, collateral agreements are fundamental for managing credit risk. When two parties enter into a contract under a collateral agreement, they agree to post collateral as market movements change the exposure between the counterparties. This process, currently conducted daily, involves complex calculations, bilateral agreement, and operational execution. With trillions of dollars of collateral exchanged daily, disputes, delays, and some inefficiencies are common and can be costly.   
   
DLT and smart contracts offer a paradigm shift. By automating collateral posting, these technologies eliminate disputes through fixed valuations. More importantly, they enable intraday collateral exchanges – potentially four or more times a day – compared to the current end-of-day standard. This increased frequency would significantly enhance operational efficiency, provide instantaneous settlement, and lower the capital buffer required to cover credit exposures.   
   
The benefits are clear: fewer disputes, faster processes, and a reduced operational burden. As these technologies mature, we can expect to see them adopted more broadly, creating a more efficient, transparent, and resilient financial ecosystem. Next year may well be the year when the promise of digital assets in wholesale markets becomes a reality. 

David Mercer, chief executive, LMAX Group     

The market for digital assets is poised for exponential growth, driven by breakthroughs in blockchain technology, tokenisation and long-awaited regulatory clarity worldwide. A shift from speculative interest to real-world utility will be a core driver and the inflexion point toward mass adoption by institutional investors and corporates more broadly. The ability to tokenise assets—making trading efficient, fungible and accessible—will revolutionise markets. Fractional ownership and instantaneous transfer of title will democratise access, enabling every tier of market participant to transact seamlessly at scale. 

Stablecoins and other digital fungible collateral, backed by reputable frameworks will underpin this transformation. By acting as a bridge between fiat and digital currencies, the world’s monetary systems can become more intertwined with the broader digital assets ecosystem. To achieve this vision, systemic risks such as market concentration and regulatory uncertainties must be addressed. Doing so will encourage more innovation in this space whilst providing investor protections and enable greater participation from real money to fuel these developments.

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From across the pond, we’re bullish 2025 could be a good year for UK equities. Firstly, with a new government and long-term fiscal policy, investors have greater clarity on the path ahead for the country. If they can successfully deliver the economic growth touted, we’re confident of a warmer reception by investors for UK equities.

Secondly, the relative value of UK equities provides additional upside should sentiment improve given their trend of undervaluation. US investors are always looking for value pockets, to which UK equites should be greater considered, particularly against their frothy US peers.

To achieve the rewards of such optimism, UK capital markets must continue evolving, and we expect London to still face challenges around perceived attractiveness. European and US exchanges will only continue to provide stiff competition, although we remain passionate believers in the potential of strong domestic markets.

The solution? Doubling down on efforts to make the UK an attractive investing hub, whether that be through listening to industry calls to scrap stamp duty reserve tax or better supporting the exchanges of Aquis and AIM to support small venture stage companies of tomorrow. These ideas alone would meaningfully improve attractiveness of UK equities further. Next year will bring no guarantees, and we’re expecting a few surprises along the way…  

Adam Conn, head of trading, Baillie Gifford  

I suspect this will be a year of index consolidation that will mask a further switch into high quality growth. I believe there will be a significant pick up in capital market activity, provided deals are priced realistically, leading to an increase in companies coming to the public markets through IPOs.

Brian Hyndman, chief executive officer, Blue Ocean Technologies 

The growth of 24-hour trading in equities has been a long time coming and a market structure development that first made headlines over twenty years ago. At that time, progress was limited to extending traditional trading hours slightly to the pre- and post-market. Also, given a lack of market demand and market infrastructure, the hours were never extended past 8pm eastern time.

Three years ago, Blue Ocean Technologies set out to solve this trading access problem that grew more apparent following the pandemic, a time that also helped fuel trading after hours in the US due to the increase in retail brokers, mobile technology, and geopolitical events. The launch of Blue Ocean ATS provided a complete modernisation of antiquated market hours during a time when investors around the world wanted the convenience of trading during unconventional market hours and in the case of Asia-Pacific, during their day-time business hours. This fuelled the geographical expansion among global investors with connectivity to retail and institutional brokers benefitting US equities trading.

As trading volumes continue to grow and new records are set, a new competitive landscape is emerging with the recent launch of another alternative trading system, OTC Markets, that will roll out their 24-hour equities trading capability and the NYSE’s announcement of their plans to roll-out this new trading offering. The entrance of new competitors is a positive trend for the global trading demand of US stocks that will only benefit investors. As the first platform to enter this space, we are encouraged by the new momentum and welcome the healthy competition.

Sylvain Thieullent, chief executive officer, Horizon Trading Solutions 

With a Trump presidency, it is fair to say that a lot of financial regulatory changes are completely up in the air. Right now though, the SEC has ratified changes to equity market structure including a move to reduce the tick sizes of trades. Smaller tick sizes would cause tighter spreads, which could have a knock-on impact on high frequency traders’ willingness to market-make US stocks while channeling large volumes of trading to technology firms like Robinhood.

This presents an opportunity for traditional retail brokers to win back the business that they have lost over the last decade if they are in a position to take advantage. They need to differentiate themselves and adapt to modern trading conditions. This means embracing technology, updating their internal operational processes, and ultimately creating the quality of experience that customers expect in 2025.

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Next year is set to be the year of public and private collaboration for the blockchain industry, with US elections bringing greater confidence in some areas and uncertainty in others. Turning tides means the US crypto landscape is likely to look significantly different by the end of 2025. Republican control of the White House and Congress should enable much anticipated legislation, clarifying the role of regulating agencies and providing confidence, with industry innovation being supported. While DLT is still gaining traction in US financial markets, having been constrained by regulatory uncertainty, an established regulatory framework will drive tailwinds. 

Outside the US, 2024 has been a landmark year with industry collaborations illustrating the benefits DLT-based infrastructure offers. The UK RLN, led by UK Finance, involved 11 of the country’s largest banking and payments providers to create a regulated platform for public and private digital monies including CBDCs and tokenised deposits. With over 80 countries exploring CBDCs for both domestic and cross-border use cases and several in advanced stages, it’s likely more of these projects evolve into live solutions in 2025. However, uncertainty surrounding US Republican’s attitudes towards CBDCs may cause other G7 countries to put greater focus on domestic projects.

Rob Wing, head of digital assets and FX, 4OTC 

Over the past three years, we have seen more financial institutions move into digital assets trading. We expect this to continue during 2025, as investors continue to diversify their portfolios with a range of crypto assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The recent US election and President Trump coming to power in January is already driving up prices in some of the more established crypto currencies.

One of the key challenges for trading firms is connecting to all the exchanges. The market remains highly fragmented, with institutional traders typically connecting to between five and 25 exchanges globally to access market data and liquidity. As crypto trading becomes more institutionalised, firms are demanding robust, secure, and low latency infrastructure, supported by failover and full disaster recovery procedures. Like the FX market, the velocity of trading is increasing, as firms analyse increasing amounts of data and quantum computing applications enable algorithmic trading, supporting complex calculations at unprecedented speeds.

Jon Light, head of OTC trading platforms, Devexperts 

We expect to see much more activity from regulators in the crypto space in 2025. With the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation’s (MiCA) rules starting to apply in full on 30 December, other jurisdictions will have their eye on the EU, assessing the impact of the regulation on the crypto market and responding with their own versions. The US is expected to move closer to regulating the space, adopting a more friendly stance under the Trump administration. With the SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, preparing to exit in January, pro-crypto regulation is expected. Also, the UK is getting ready to release its regulatory framework for crypto in early 2025.

These moves towards regulating the crypto space will help mitigate risks for the wider financial stability. As cryptocurrencies become more interconnected with the traditional financial sector, the challenge will be to have regulatory, global coordination, which is needed, otherwise weaker jurisdictions can be exploited. This cross-border facilitation of regulation is needed for the cryptocurrency system to continue growing and be widely adopted by institutional investors.

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By leveraging Broadridge’s Securities Finance and Collateral Management (SFCM) solution, FAB will be able to bolster its coverage of global fixed income and equities markets.

The development comes as part of the bank’s drive to expand securities lending in the UAE and wider Middle East.

“This collaboration caters for the growing demand for securities lending and borrowing within the Middle East and is aligned both with local regulatory needs and with international best practices,” said Darren Crowther, head of securities finance and collateral management at Broadridge. 

Broadridge’s provision of its SFCM platform — the first AWS SaaS deployment in the region — demonstrates a renewed focus in the Middle East and indicates readiness to support FAB’s strategic goals, the firm said in a statement.

As FAB navigates the evolving landscape of securities borrowing and lending regulations in the region’s markets.

The collaboration is also expected to yield new opportunities and efficiencies for FAB that will benefit clients across the globe – particularly as it navigates the evolving landscape of securities borrowing and lending regulations in the region’s markets.

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Bloomberg’s foreign exchange electronic trading platform (FXGO) BMatch solution will provide spot matching functionality to the local interbank community for US dollar against the Nigerian naira.

The solution allows anonymous orders to be placed into a central limit order book, which are displayed and then matched with counterparty orders based on mutual trading limits and other specificities from each bank.

Banks can integrate the offering with their middle- and back-office systems.

Bloomberg added that consolidated trade statistics can also be calculated and made available to the market.

“We are pleased to partner with Bloomberg at this critical phase of the FX market reforms being undertaken by the CBN to enhance the price discovery process with the adoption of the Bloomberg BMatch, a more efficient FX pricing system in the market”, said Omolara Omotunde Duke, director of financial markets at CBN.

“The BMatch will provide a robust oversight function for the central bank’s market surveillance activities and deliver better transparency on the prevailing market determined exchange rate. This will be supported by the adoption of the Nigeria FX code by market participants to promote ethical FX market activities.”

FXGO is Bloomberg’s multi-bank FX trading solution providing access to liquidity through real-time pricing, workflow solutions and analytics for price takers worldwide to negotiate FX transactions with their bank relationships.

FXGO offers streaming or RFQ for spot, outrights, swaps, NDFs, deposits, precious metals and options in any currency pair and tenor, alongside providing access to algorithmic order solutions from over 30 providers.

“We are proud to support CBN with our tailored BMatch solution and deliver with it increased transparency, liquidity and efficiency for the Nigeria FX markets,” said Tod Van Name, global head of FX electronic trading at Bloomberg.

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GFO-X is the UK’s first regulated and centrally cleared trading venue dedicated to digital asset derivatives.

The trading venue stated that it has been working closely with these partners to deliver the requirements necessary to grow the institutional digital asset index futures and options market. 

Read more: LCH SA to launch UK’s first centrally cleared trading venue for digital asset derivatives with GFO-X

“We are delighted to announce our strategic partners as we drive towards launch in Q1 next year. Their support is a clear and strong endorsement of our vision of the market structure required to deliver digital asset derivatives to large institutional clients,” said Arnab Sen, chief executive and co-founder at GFO-X.

“It demonstrates the need for a highly regulated venue to bring additional depth, breadth, and diversification to the current limited choices in centrally cleared digital asset index derivatives. We believe the digital asset derivatives market will grow exponentially over the coming years.”

GFO-X offers a trading platform built for institutions, providing investors with a secure and efficient trading environment to manage digital asset exposure.  

“As a market maker, our strategic connection with GFO-X underscores our commitment to the institutional digital asset futures and options market – a rapidly evolving space we believe holds significant potential for continued growth and opportunity,” said Osi Lilian, IMC Strategic Investments co-lead.

The venue added that it looks forward to announcing additional partnerships with leading financial institutions in the immediate future.

Read more: M&G Investments leads $30 million Series B funding round for GFO-X

“We are excited to partner with GFO-X, the UKs first regulated and centrally cleared trading venue dedicated to digital asset derivatives,” said Barry Polak, lead product commerce at ABN ARO Clearing.

“This strategic collaboration underscores our shared commitment to advancing the institutional digital asset futures and options market.”

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As part of the development, Northern Trust will provide outsourced trading primarily for Avanza Fonder’s global, emerging market, European and US equity market index funds.

Founded in 2006, Avanza Fonder is a wholly owned subsidiary of Avanza Bank Holding which provides services for private clients.

The fund company manages funds in-house and in collaboration with other managers.

Read more: Fireside Friday with… Northern Trust’s Amy Thorne

 “After opting to bring the management of our index funds in-house, we aimed to find a solution that would streamline our trading processes so we could concentrate on what matters most, which is to achieve outstanding results for our clients,” said Jesper Bonnivier, chief executive at Avanza Fonder.

“By collaborating with Northern Trust and utilising their ITS platform, we’ve gained access to greater liquidity and scale, enabling us to drive growth and consistently surpass client expectations.”

The past year has seen multiple investment managers outsource their trading to Northern Trust.

Most recently, UK-based asset manager Artemis selected Northern Trust to provide outsourced trading services for its equities and derivatives activity, effective January 2025.

In August, Northern Trust was also selected to provide outsourced trading to global asset manager Nedgroup Investments via its Integrated Trading Solutions (ITS). Specifically, Northern Trust will support Nedgroup with its new in-house multi-boutique fixed income platform.

Read more: Northern Trust tapped by True Potential for outsourced trading solutions

“We are delighted to be working with Avanza Fonder, a leading fund manager in the Nordic region, to support them across the trading spectrum through an integrated middle-and back-office solution,” said Gerard Walsh, global head of client solutions banking and markets at Northern Trust.

“Our customised services will help Avanza Fonder navigate ongoing global market challenges, allowing them to focus on managing the assets entrusted to them, whilst we work with them to effectively manage the trade and post-trade lifecycle.”

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By leveraging proprietary data from the MarketAxess trading platform, TraX market data, and public sources such as TRACE, CP+ claims to go beyond traditional fixed income pricing sources to deliver value across the investment lifecycle.

Through the expansion of coverage, MarketAxess clients trading munis will benefit from accurate and unbiased reference pricing for the MSRB-reportable municipal bond market.

“We are excited to see the difference the introduction of real-time, AI-powered algorithmic pricing can make to a historically fragmented market like municipal bonds,” said Julien Alexandre, global head of research at MarketAxess.

“Our award-winning models excel at extracting pricing signals from multiple data sources, which is crucial in munis where trading is known to be sporadic.”

Initially introduced in 2017, CP+ is a data input and pricing source for multiple MarketAxess trading protocols and solutions, including Auto-X and portfolio trading.

“The muni marketplace has seen notable e-trading growth in recent years, and we believe innovations like CP+ with real-time, actionable data for [roughly] 930,000 municipal bonds will not only increase transparency and efficiency, but also the speed of adoption for electronic trading,” said Daniel Kelly, head of municipal securities at MarketAxess. 

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