Thomson Reuters Embeds Eikon Messenger in FXall Platform

Thomson Reuters has integrated its Eikon Messenger open messaging tool into the FXall electronic foreign exchange (FX) trading platform, which the vendor acquired for $625 million in August last year, in a move that will significantly grow the number of buy-side members of the Eikon Messenger community, officials say.

The integration will allow FXall's predominately buy-side user base of traders, asset managers, corporate treasurers, broker-dealers, prime brokers and market makers from 1,300 institutional firms to connect with Eikon Messenger's global community of 190,000 financial professionals as well as users of third party systems including AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Yahoo Messenger.

Users can access the messaging tool via a new icon on the FXall trading toolbar, which is currently available for customers to download after being released in July as part of the most recent upgrade of the FXall platform, says Peter Moss, head of trading at Thomson Reuters.

The tool will provide users with access to cross-asset data, news and market commentary on Thomson Reuters' 27 global chat forums as well as the ability to communicate with any member of the vendor's global network via instant messaging functionality.

"Since the acquisition of FXall in August 2012, Thomson Reuters has been identifying the best way to deliver our product capabilities in FX to clients and the wider market based on input from our customers. This is one element of a broader strategy to deliver Thomson Reuters' vision of being the global market leader in execution venues, insight and workflow solutions for fixed income, commodities and currency trading,' Moss says.

Previously, FXall customers used a variety of means to communicate with third parties including embedded chat functionality in the trading platform for individual trades. However, in a bid to encourage more users to communicate via Eikon Messenger more frequently and to meet demand from the industry for more open messaging, Thomson Reuters took the decision to integrate Eikon Messenger with FXall, Moss adds. 

Thomson Reuters' messenger network is federated with major third-party systems including AOL and Yahoo Messenger and is open to all financial markets professionals regardless of the desktop they use.

"Our clients are telling us that they need instant messaging tools that speak to each other; they don't want their activity locked into a single provider. The integration of FXall is part of our ongoing strategy to create an open messaging network that enables professionals to connect across financial markets," Moss adds.