Due to its vital investments to spice up spot liquidity within the Asia-Pacific area, UBS was in a position to proceed quoting aggressive costs all through bouts of utmost volatility within the latter a part of 2024 and first quarter of 2025
Spot buying and selling reached file highs in April 2025 because of the excessive volatility in FX markets because the greenback was put below stress amid rising commerce tensions. Value actions in Asia-Pacific (Apac) had been significantly affected as a result of a lot of the volatility that emanated from tariff bulletins made late within the day within the US when markets there have been closed coincided with the early hours of the Asia buying and selling session when liquidity was on the low finish.
Regardless of such excessive volatility, UBS continued to cite costs all through and maintained excessive ranges of spot liquidity on its Neo FX buying and selling platform and different digital channels, because it did when volatility hit the Japanese yen and yen crosses in August 2024.
Paul Buttenmueller, UBS
“April was most likely one of the vital unstable durations FX markets have seen, particularly inside Asia hours, as a result of, when tariff headlines hit at 10pm in New York, which is 10am our time, there may be restricted liquidity to cowl fast-moving spot costs,” explains Joby John, head of FX buying and selling, Apac, at UBS. “Our platform remained resilient. We made positive our liquidity stayed it doesn’t matter what, and we continued to point out costs to our shoppers. This can be a hallmark that our shoppers have come to depend on through the years.”
“Volumes had been 50% increased in April in comparison with a typical month final yr,” says Paul Buttenmueller, world head of e-FX principal buying and selling at UBS. “Below these very unstable circumstances, we continued pricing competitively even within the much less liquid rising market and treasured steel foreign money pairs. We saved offering deep liquidity, to the delight of our shoppers, and acquired a variety of constructive suggestions.”
Neo’s secure efficiency and resilience all through the latest market turmoil is central to UBS’s dedication to offering liquidity to the Apac area, come what might. To fulfil this dedication, the financial institution has made vital investments lately to extend the general capability of its buying and selling platform.
The financial institution boosted the supply of spot liquidity for Apac on Neo and improved latency throughout a lot of its world community, thereby lowering round-trip instances to and from the area. That is particularly vital for Asia as spot worth discovery info typically flows from London and New York into the area, and the community upgrades made by UBS imply that extra knowledge is now in a position to stream again to the area at larger pace.
To enhance its liquidity provision, UBS is accessing a number of FX and treasured steel futures markets to broaden the pool of accessible hedging venues. Moreover, to broaden its foreign money spot providing for shoppers in Apac, UBS has opened buying and selling in new FX spot pairs, together with some from the Center East – corresponding to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait – in addition to some extra frontier currencies. Important enhancements had been additionally made to gold and silver spot liquidity, and platinum and palladium loco London had been added to its choice of spot treasured metals – merchandise which are more and more standard within the area.
Buttenmueller factors out that the investments the financial institution has made lately have translated into the financial institution offering sturdy ranges of spot liquidity even throughout unstable durations, in contrast to different market-makers – significantly non-banks – that are likely to retreat from the market when their danger limits have been reached.
“Regardless of the elevated curiosity from liquidity suppliers in FX spot buying and selling throughout the Apac time zone, their usually comparatively tight danger limits imply that, within the illiquid interval simply after the weekend or when there are massive information bulletins, some FX spot liquidity suppliers may be compelled to step again, which may create difficult liquidity circumstances,” he says.
At UBS, the mixture of voice spot buying and selling liquidity and the sturdy e-FX buying and selling platform makes sustaining liquidity provision throughout instances of excessive volatility a key differentiator. It’s because know-how permits for scale and resilience whereas the human issue performs a job to supply shoppers with market color and extra liquidity entry.
“The spine of our providing is tech-enabled,” says John. “That is the one approach we will keep each scale and resilience throughout unstable durations. The human presence is there to distinguish the providing and supply color to shoppers on what’s driving worth motion.”
UBS was named Greatest Asia FX spot home on the FX Markets Asia Awards 2025.
