JP Morgan FX Head Moves To LabMorgan In E-Commerce Drive

LONDON--JP Morgan is restructuring the leadership of its global FX business as it intensifies efforts in e-commerce with LabMorgan, the firm’s e-finance unit.

Global head of foreign exchange Klaus Said is moving to LabMorgan, where he will assume responsibility for all the unit’s ventures in liquid markets. These include interest rates, currencies and liquid equity markets.

Alan Collins, formerly head of foreign exchange, Europe for JP Morgan, will replace Said as global FX head. Collins has been with the bank for over 15 years, spending most of that time in foreign exchange, but also working in derivatives as global head of options across all products.

The moves are strategic developments in line with the bank’s progress in foreign exchange and increasing involvement in multi-dealer e-commerce platforms, Said told FX Week.

So far this year, JP Morgan has committed to a number of online ventures with other banks and companies.

The initiatives include FXall.com for the currency markets, Market Axess for fixed-income trading, Volbroker.com for currency options, SwapsWire for interest-rate derivatives, Gold Avenue for the gold market and Securities. Hub, an expansion of bond-trading platform Bond.Hub.

"What we have found is that to move your e-commerce effort forward, what you really need is senior business managers as well as e-specialists," says Said. "Ultimately we will succeed in all the market spaces if our e-finance units work hand-in-glove with our business units."

The key to JP Morgan’s drive into e-commerce is that it allows them to capitalise on existing strengths in a way that would not have been so easy without the advent of the internet, says the bank.

"One of the great advantages we see in all things related to ‘e’ is that it allows us to achieve the kind of scale in ability to reach customers that other banks have acquired simply through size," says Bill Winters, head of global markets.

"We will continue to replicate our success in markets like FX with FXall.com, but hopefully in an accelerated way with Klaus in his new role."

At present, Said already has responsibility for FXall.com from his position as global FX head, and anticipates his new role will mainly involve initiatives with other market participants. Overall, over 30 ideas are currently in development, but details have yet to be disclosed.

FXall.com’s other participants are Bank of America, Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and UBS Warburg. The site aims to offer 24-hour access to the global FX market with the liquidity of its backers and technology allowing straight-through processing for clients.

Despite competition from other multi-dealer sites, such as CFO Web.com, and the chance that more will appear as new initiatives are announced regularly, Said is confident about the future.

"The future in some form or fashion will belong to multi-dealer platforms," he says. "The good thing about e-space is that the scope to actually find room to co-operate rather than go at loggerheads with competitors is huge."

The principle of ‘coopetition’ has found much support among banks which were erstwhile competitors.

As the markets and technology evolve, there is an expectation that some sites will have to join forces to survive as market leaders emerge. But there will not necessarily be any one dominant force in online forex markets, says Said.

"The foreign exchange market is too big for just one venture," he says. "There is room for more than one venture to succeed, but over time we will get more and more sensible alliances as things become clearer."