History

The WM/Reuters service is a joint venture between The WM Company and Thomson Reuters.  The WM/Reuters Closing Spot Rate Service was launched in 1994 to provide a better standard for the valuation of global portfolios. This need was a direct consequence of the globalisation of trade and investments which took place in the early 1990’s.  Our rates were quickly adopted by major stock market indices, the Financial Times and investment clients. 

In the original service, 40 Closing Spot currencies were provided on a daily basis; today 158 Closing Spot currencies are covered on an hourly basis. 

The original service has been developed over the years to meet the demands of the market.  Now, as well as providing global coverage of all the major currencies, our service currently collects, validates and publishes Closing Forward Rates, hourly Intraday Spot rates, hourly Intraday Forward rates, and Historical Data as well as the Closing Spot Rates

WM/Reuters Milestones

Jan 1994 – Launch of the Closing Spot Rates.

Jan 1997 – Launch of the Closing Forward Rates.

Jan 1999 – Launch of the Closing Spot and Closing Forward Rates being provided against EUR as base currency.

Jun 2001 – Launch of the Hourly Intraday Spot Rates (06:00 – 22:00 UK time).

Jun 2001 – Spot Rates Methodology enhanced along with the creation of ‘Trade Currencies’ whereby the top 8 Currencies were sourced from the Reuters Dealing 2000 Trading System.

Mar 2004 – Extension of the Closing Forward Rates to cover 72 currencies and additional time periods.

Apr 2004 – New Trade Currencies EUR, CHF and JPY introduced from the EBS Trading System.

Jul 2004 – Enhancement to the ‘Trade Currencies’ Methodology.

Aug 2004 – Introduction of Intraday Forward Rates 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, and 14:00 hours UK time.

Jun 2005 – Added 21:00 hours UK time to the Intraday Forwards Service.

Jan 2007 - Extended Intraday Forwards to 07:00 – 21:00 hours UK time.

Jul 2007 – Opening of our Sydney Office, Australia.

Aug 2007 – An increase to our Intraday Spot Rates Service to cover 24 hours.  More info.

Mar 2008 – Increased the coverage of the Trade Currencies up to 21.  More info.

Apr 2008 - Patent awarded for the method of fixing the rates.

Aug 2008 – Adoption of the Intraday AUD Spot Rates for the WM/Reuters Australian Fix 10:00 hours, and the WM/Reuters Australian Fix 16:00 hours approved and supported by the Australian FX Committee.

Aug 2008 – Adoption of the Intraday NZD Spot Rate for the WM/Reuters New Zealand Fix 14:00 hours sponsored and endorsed by the New Zealand Financial Markets Association.

Oct 2008 – Introduction of Forward Rates at 16:00 hours Sydney time.

Jun 2009 - Introduction of Forward Rates at 17:00 hours New York time, 10:00 hours Sydney time, and 14:00 New Zealand time.  More info.

Aug 2009 – Formalisation of local close for currencies where offshore trading is not permitted.  More info. 

Sep 2009 – Introduction of WM/Reuters Non-deliverable Forward rates (CNY, IDR, INR, KRW, MYR & PHP). More info.

Mar 2010 – Introduction of KZT, RUB & UAH to WM/Reuters Non-deliverable Forward service.  More info.