Barclays has announced it will deploy in mid-2021 its latest foreign exchange (FX) trading and pricing engine in Singapore under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) FX Trading Hub strategy.

The firm, which aims to strengthen its FX presence in the Asia-Pacific region, will build out a local instance of BARX, one of the leading FX trading systems globally. This will include the rollout of the latest BARX Direct technology, which combines next-generation pricing algorithms with ultra-low latency co-location connectivity.

With the BARX infrastructure being based in Singapore, local and regional market participants will be able to leverage existing BARX functionality while benefitting from increased price discovery, lower latency and improved quality of execution. Furthermore, BARX Direct for one-month non-deliverable forwards will provide tighter and more accurate prices with reduced latency through localised co-location client connectivity and price discovery.

“This move delivers a substantial enhancement to our product delivery here in Singapore and across the APAC region,” says Cameron Booth, head of eFICC Distribution Asia. “Significantly improved latency, and our next generation pricing, execution and algorithms will drive growth and strengthen our broad client franchise in Asia.”

The new FX trading and pricing engine in Singapore will be Barclays’ fourth electronic FX trading hub globally, adding to its existing platforms in New York, London and Tokyo.