StoneX Plants a Flag in Singapore's FX Server Race

StoneX Group has extended its partnership with currency technology firm Integral to connect to the Equinix SG1 data center in Singapore, giving the Nasdaq-listed broker direct access to foreign exchange and precious metals liquidity hosted at the facility. The companies announced the move on Tuesday.

StoneX already operates on Integral's infrastructure at Equinix sites in New York and London. The new Singapore connection adds a regional point of presence and, according to the firms, removes latency associated with routing Asian order flow through servers in other regions. Gerard Melia, global head of FX sales at StoneX, said the broker is strengthening its ability to serve clients "in a region where speed and access to liquidity are critical."

Integral said the local deployment should improve access to FX and precious metals liquidity, reduce latency and boost trading efficiency for clients across Asia. Neither company quantified the expected latency savings, and StoneX did not specify how much volume it plans to route through Singapore.

The announcement follows Integral's own expansion at SG1. In January, the Palo Alto-based company tripled its footprint at the data center after trading volumes increased, and it now reports processing more than one million tickets a day at the site. Integral, founded in 1993, sells cloud-based FX workflow tools to banks, brokers and payment firms, competing with oneZero and smartTrade. CEO Harpal Sandhu described the StoneX extension as deepening "our longstanding relationship with StoneX, which spans over 15 years."

Singapore is one of the largest FX trading centers globally, behind London and New York, making it a key location for brokers and vendors seeking to keep trading servers close to where regional prices are formed. StoneX is not the first Integral client to use the Singapore setup. In November, Phillip Securities tapped Integral to support its move into institutional FX, and Singapore's Straits Financial previously extended its Integral deal at SG1 to handle gold and other precious metals. Competitor oneZero has made a similar move at Equinix's LD4 site in London.

The Singapore link is part of a broader expansion at StoneX. In January, its digital assets arm received a MiCA crypto license through the Central Bank of Ireland, and the group has opened offices in India and agreed to acquire U.S. futures broker R.J. O'Brien. StoneX, which owns retail brands Forex.com and City Index, has seen rising FX and CFD volumes even as revenue per million traded has declined. The companies did not disclose when the Singapore connection will go live or whether further regions are planned.