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Digital Innovation (SMEs/Startups)

Winner

Spark Systems Pte Ltd

In the world of foreign exchange, speed is of the essence – and a few milliseconds can mean the difference between great profits and devastating losses. Unfortunately, many firms still use older platforms that cannot keep up with the demand of current transactions. This is compounded by the exorbitant transaction fees that these platforms charge, ranging anywhere between US$3 and US$10 for every US$1 million worth of trades. On average, a firm could be paying up to 40 per cent of its revenue to trading platforms and transaction costs.

This is how Spark Systems came about. Started by foreign exchange trading veterans, Spark Systems is a new generation, deep tech foreign exchange trading platform that is faster, cheaper and more stable than its competitors. The Spark Systems platform charges US$2 per million dollar trade and has an ultra low-latency speed advantage that trumps the others in brute speed. Furthermore, because it was built by a team well-versed in the foreign exchange market, the user experience and user interface is intuitive and understandable.

Spark Systems is experiencing meteoric growth since its inception in 2016. In the first quarter of 2020, its average trading volume was US$5.5 billion, more than double the Q1 2019 average of US$2.5 billion. It has also welcomed multiple investors including the likes of Vickers Ventures, Dymon Asia Venture, Jubilee Capital, FengHe, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, HSBC and OSK Ventures.

“Spark’s unique position as a game changer, pioneering in creation of Singapore - based Foreign Exchange (FX) marketplace allows them to play a facilitative role between liquidity providers and takers under one platform across Asia. Spark Systems has the advantage of not having the burden of legacy technologies and actively looks ahead to improve its competitive advantage. It looks to augment current systems of its clients to achieve a better, faster and smoother trading experience.”

— Glen Francis, Chief Technology Officer,
Singapore Press Holdings Limited

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is also tapping on the Spark Systems platform to transform the country into an attractive matching centre for the big foreign exchange players globally and in the region. By doing so, the banks will have to build their electronic pricing teams in the country, leading to the creation of new jobs not only in the financial but computing and information technology space as well.

“We will always be the one better enabling transactions, selling spades in a gold rush,” says Spark Systems CEO Wong Joo Seng.