Global interdealer broker BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:BGCP)Â has announced that it launched BGC Trader for the Indian Rupee non-deliverable forward (“INR NDF”) market in November 2014 . Since its launch BGC has seen strong interest in INR NDF trading across its SEF and off-SEF platforms.
In adding the Indian rupee as a forward contract, BGC Partners follows the successful lead in this asset class by Middle Eastern trading venue DGCX (Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange) whose Indian Rupee contract which is offered on an exchange-traded basis has been a source of great popularity and a mainstay of volumes for the emerging exchange.
In October last year, Harun Khan, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India stated that the average daily volume in the inter-bank USD/INR options market is currently just about 2.6 per cent of that of inter-bank USD/INR forwards. Mr. Khan further added that the decline in the inter-bank option trading volume is attributed to fall in the usage of options by the clients as well as fall in the proprietary trading by banks, thus showing INR forwards as being dominant.
With regard to BGC Partner’s addition of the INR NDF, Philip Norton , Executive Managing Director, Global Head of e-Commerce at the firm stated today that “BGC became the first interdealer broker to launch an electronic trading solution for NDF Indian Rupee future based instruments in November last year, demonstrating our commitment to staying ahead of the curve to best serve our customers.”
He continued: “We are encouraged by trading volumes and customer feedback which has been overwhelmingly positive. This reinforces our belief that BGC Trader is one of the most sophisticated and effective execution tools in the market.”
BGC Trader is a proprietary multi-asset, integrated voice and electronic price execution platform. By leveraging BGC’s existing global technology and applying it to the INR NDF market BGC became the first interdealer broker to introduce rapid and efficient price discovery, order management and execution for customers seeking access to this rapidly growing market. BGC offers its customers the ability to roll their future exposure into the liquid NDF one month market via a Basis Swap Instrument. These instruments are available to trade on BGC’s SEF as well as off-SEF.