The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and five other banking and financial giants announced Tuesday they will contribute capital to a Web venture allowing institutional investors and companies to trade in foreign currencies online.
The venture, FXall, formally known as FX Alliance LLC, was earlier set up by the Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, UBS Warburg and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
Online services will be started late this year at the earliest.
Capital stakes to be acquired by the six new participants in the venture have yet to be determined.
Joining BTM are BNP Paribas, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Westpac Banking Corp.
FXall plans to give large investors and businesses one-stop access to round-the-clock online buying and selling of foreign currencies -- be it spot, option or forward -- via the Web.
Foreign exchange transactions currently require financial institutions to act as intermediaries in matching buy and sell orders.
But the FXall project will allow businesses to instantly place orders for foreign currencies while comparing exchange rates offered by a number of financial institutions.