Faced with a need for more effective risk management of their Retail FX customer positions, banks and brokerage firms in the FX space are being challenged by ballooning small ticket items, varying customer credit limits, risk mitigation issues as well strains on their back office processing capabilities. Roger Aitken talks to leading industry players to explore the key issues involved.

Social networking has now come of age in the consumer market, with the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and LinkedIn all attracting record numbers of members. Heather McLean explores how this maturing technology has now given rise to increasing interest in social networking for retail FX users, with added trading tools, charts, news feeds and forums to maximise the benefits for end users.

Service, innovation and security are the three key areas for winning the hearts and minds of retail traders. But what do these smaller traders really want from their platform providers? Heather McLean sets out to explore what brokers are doing to improve the FX experience for the armies of retail traders spilling out of the woodwork across the globe.

Mark Biezup, FX product Manager - SunGard Sierra, outlines why recent and projected regulatory changes along with a focus on risk management will have significant implications for FX brokers.

With the passing of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) in December 2000, the Commodities and Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) became officially responsible for regulating the retail FX market, thereby legitimizing the existence of the burgeoning retail market. Today, the retail FX market is booming with strong adoption across all major financial centers.

What will be the next wave of FX algorithms? Nicholas Pratt charts the development efforts of the leading algo providers to examine how execution strategies in FX can be taken to another level.

Jim Nuzum CEO of GCC Markets, (www.gcc-markets.com) explores why there is growing demand for Shari'ah compliant FX trading solutions and how the latest FX e-commerce technologies can help address the needs of Islamic traders and investors.

Despite new research showing a slight shift towards multi-dealer platforms, the demand for single bank portals, and relationship-based pricing, is still high, especially in times of crisis. Frances Maguire examines how the continued investment by banks in their platforms is ensuring they continue to grow.