50 Banks, Reuters Create Online Foreign Exchange

[London, ENGLAND] Fifty top banks and news agency Reuters announced
Tuesday the creation of Atriax, a foreign exchange marketplace on the
Internet for professional traders.

The founders of Atriax account for over half of all foreign exchange
dealing in the world, where the market volume now exceeds
US $1.5 trillion dollars a day.

An open, non-exclusive market that can be used by traders in addition
to other platforms, Atriax will cater for online trading in over a
hundred currencies and provide a fully automated confirmation and
settlement process.

Input from Reuters will include real-time market data and news,
while the banking partners in the venture will aggregate their
research, indexing it for easy access.

The largest shareholders are The Chase Manhattan Bank, Citibank,
Deutsche Bank and Reuters.

Operating globally as an independent business, Atriax will have its
own board of directors and management team. A Bank Board consisting
of 14 members will represent the interests of sell-side members; while
an Advisory Board will represent the interests of buy-side members.

Sitting on the Advisory Board will be representatives of twenty-four
global corporate and institutional names, including GE, Microsoft and
Cisco.

Speaking for Cisco, Chief Financial Officer Larry Carter said his
corporation is very supportive of this type of project, noting that
an online marketplace for transacting foreign exchange was a “new
world” approach to an age-old type of transaction.

“Not only does such a model offer increased transparency in price
and execution, but it also offers the potential for
straight-through-processing, by connecting banks directly to
e-commerce engines like Cisco’s,” said Carter.

Dan Morehead, who was formerly chief financial officer of Tiger
Management L.L.C. has been appointed as chief executive officer
(designate) of Atriax. He commented that the aim was to establish
it quickly as the most efficient means to research, transact and
settle foreign exchange business.

“Atriax is open to all market participants and already a large number
have come together from every part of the foreign exchange industry
to develop a platform that will accrue substantial benefits to all,”
said Morehead.

Many of the much-touted online marketplaces that have sprung up
in the last two or three years have not lived up to their promises.
However, given the huge power of the participating bodies, Atriax
could become very popular with traders.

The Euromoney May 2000 FX survey lists 32 currencies and currency
pairs — and of these, Atriax members hold two of the top three
positions in every one.

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