Thomson Reuters Spot Matching launches new Arab currencies

Since April 12, it now offers the Kuwaiti dinar, Bahraini dinar and the UAE dirham as spot and forwards, according to an internal source who wished to remain anonymous. He said more than 100 counterparties, namely banks, are trading these currencies globally across the Gulf region, the UK, the US and Switzerland, but average daily volumes so far have been small. "The Gulf is a growing area of focus, which is growing at a reasonable pace," he said. "We didn't offer these currencies before because there were no staff in the region but Reuters wants to gain market share."

Additionally, he said Thomson Reuters is breaking into a market where currencies are not traditionally traded electronically but through voice brokerage. "Local banks are pricing through here because they want to market their name. Western banks are thirsty for another currency pair to trade electronically and increase their portfolios. If they can reliably quote GCC currencies and access a visible market, it gives them confidence," he said.

The source said Thomson Reuters hopes to offer the remaining two GCC currencies, the Omani rial and the Qatari riyal, in future, although no timeline was specified.