Since 1999, banks have been developing proprietary systems for their customers to trade foreign exchange and access research material over the internet. To trade with multiple banks online, customers therefore need to use a variety of authentication methods, websites and price request methods. Multi-bank platforms have evolved to allow customers to use a single website to request prices simultaneously from multiple banks and view research material online. Multi-bank platforms (also known as ECNs or electronic communication networks) offer significant advantages to customers, but fewer advantages to banks, and therefore active participation by banks in multi-bank platforms is driven largely by customer demand. However, for the banks it remains preferable for their customers to trade through bank proprietary systems as the banks avoid paying brokerage and customers are encouraged to focus only on the particular bank's prices.



There are five main FX ECNs:

FXall - founded by Bank of America, Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and UBS

Currenex - independent and venture backed by major market participants, e.g. Barclays Capital and Royal Dutch/Shell

FX Connect - owned by State Street

360T - independent and venture backed by financial and major private investors

Hotspot FXi - independent privately held venture capital-backed company



Bank membership of multi-bank platforms is as follows:

Bank FXall Currenex FX Connect 360T Hotspot FXi Aareal Bank         ABN AMRO AIG   ANZ Banking Group   Banca Nazionale di Lavoro         Bank of America     Bank of Ireland         Bank of Montreal     Bank of New York         Bank of New Zealand         Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi         Bank One       Banque Cantonale Vaudoise         Banque Générale du Luxembourg         Barclays Capital Bayerische Landesbank       Bear Stearns   BNP Paribas Brown Brothers Harriman       Business Development Bank of Canada         Calyon   CDC IXIS         CIBC World Markets         Citibank       Commerzbank       Commonwealth Bank of Australia     Credit Suisse First Boston       Danske Bank     Deutsche Bank     Deutsche Postbank International         Dexia Bank         Dresdner Bank DZ Bank         Fifth Third Bancorp         Fimat         Fortis Bank     Goldman Sachs       Handelsbanken       HSBC     HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt         HSH Nordbank         HypoVereinsbank ING     ING BHF-Bank   IntesaBCI         JPMorgan Chase     Jyske Bank         KBC     Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen         LBBW         Lehman Brothers   Lloyds TSB   Macquarie Bank         Mellon Bank       Merrill Lynch     Metzler         Mitsubishi Trust and Banking Corp       Morgan Stanley       National Australia Bank     Nordea         PNC Bank       Rabobank     Rand Merchant Bank         Royal Bank of Canada   Royal Bank of Scotland Scotia Capital     SEB       Société Générale Standard Bank of South Africa         Standard Chartered Bank     State Street         Sumitomo Trust & Banking         Swiss Union of Raiffeisen Banks         Svenska Handelsbanken       The Northern Trust Company       The Travelex Group         Toronto Dominion Bank       Trust & Custody Services Bank         UBS       UFJ Bank         Wachovia Securities   Westfalenbank         WestLB   Westpac     WGZ-Bank         Zürcher Kantonalbank

Some banks choose not to publicise their participation in ECNs. Although the above banks are members of the ECNs, some may not have yet fully connected