Barclays `Last Look' Fine Inspires Currency Venue Rule Change
- FastMatch will keep last look, but will monitor its use
- Bats Global Markets has given users less time to reject trades
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Barclays Plc’s $150 million fine has inspired the chief of one foreign-exchange platform to change its rule book, a sign of how regulatory action is reshaping the world’s biggest market.
FastMatch Inc., run by former Credit Suisse Group AG director Dmitri Galinov, says it will more strictly monitor a controversial yet common practice known as “last look” following last month’s Barclays fine. Last look gives market makers a defense against faster, more sophisticated traders while enabling them to quote prices on a wider range of platforms. But it can be abused, allowing firms to trade or glean the intentions of other market participants virtually without risk to themselves.