Bank Currency Platforms Suffer Franc Trading Tremors After SNB

(Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG was among the foreign- exchange dealers to suffer disruptions to electronic trading of the Swiss franc as the currency unexpectedly soared today.

Deutsche Bank’s Autobahn platform temporarily stopped providing quotes, according to a trader from outside the bank who isn’t authorized to speak publicly. Saxo Bank A/S told clients that it will revisit their orders once liquidity improves.

Strains appeared in the electronic infrastructure for the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign-exchange market after the Swiss National Bank removed its cap of 1.20 francs per euro, a level it had defended for three years. The franc jumped to a record against the euro and rallied to its highest in more than three years against the dollar.

“Liquidity disappeared from the screens earlier,” said Michael O’Brien, director of global trading at Boston-based mutual-fund company Eaton Vance Corp. He declined to identify which platforms suffered disruptions.

Deutsche Bank was the world’s second-biggest currency dealer last year, according to a survey from Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc. Citigroup Inc. was the largest. Nick Bone, a spokesman for Deutsche, declined to comment.

“All executed fills will be revisited, but we expect everything is fine,” said Saxo Bank spokesman Kasper Elbjorn. “We are creating an overview and will revert in due time.”

Forex.com, a retail platform, suspended trading on the franc, only to restart activity at about 10:30 a.m. London time, according to Kathleen Brooks, European research director at the subsidiary of Gain Capital Holdings Inc.

To contact the reporters on this story: John Detrixhe in London at [e-mail]; Mark Cudmore in London at [e-mail]; Lucy Meakin in London at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Baker at [e-mail] Will Hadfield, Paul Dobson