ATFX Connect, the institutional arm of ATFX Group, announced on Wednesday that it has onboarded with Standard Chartered.
The British bank will act as ATFX Connect’s prime broker for foreign exchange trading, with the brokerage group now set up with two major investment banks for prime brokerage services.
“As we expand our FX prime brokerage services, we are committed to enhancing market access for our institutional clients,” said Wei Qiang Zhang, Managing Director at ATFX Connect.
“The transparent, direct market access agency model we provide enables clients to trade on top-tier liquidity. The addition of Standard Chartered Bank’s prime brokerage services perfectly complements our existing relationships and offerings.”
Prime brokers are hard to access
The addition of an investment bank prime broker is a sign of the strength of ATFX’s operations.
Investment banks have become increasingly picky about who they will take as clients, with more broker-dealers and small to mid-size hedge funds being rejected.
This is typically because they only want to deal with companies that have a large balance sheet and to avoid other risks that come from dealing with smaller players.
For ATFX Connect’s clients, the main benefit is they are getting indirect liquidity from a major market maker in the FX markets and can ultimately give their own clients better pricing.