Cash ManagementTreasury ManagementTreasury Technology
With Skirmishes on Fees
By Susan Kelly
It has all the markings of a price war. FXall eliminated transaction fees forusers of its online foreign exchange trading site in late June, one month after it was launched and just days before rival Atriax opened for business.
Atriax, which is owned by a consortium of big banks, had been actively promoting its no-fee feature.
In the offline world, when customers call dealers for quotes and trades,
they do not pay trading fees. However, when online exchange Currenex was launched 18 months ago, it charged both sides. Dealers pay $10 per $1
million per trade while corporates pay a transaction fee based on their total volume, averaging about $25 per trade. Some companies were afraid
Currenex would become the standard model.
"Many corporations, Oracle included, were finding the concept of a
competitive portal for foreign exchange pricing appealing, but were struggling with the added expense," says Geri Westphal, assistant treasurer
at Oracle, which is a member of FXall's Advisory Board.