WM/Reuters, an independent provider of foreign exchange rates, has expanded its Intraday Spots product to include the Asia-Pacific region, providing the market with 24-hour access to indep

WM/Reuters, an independent provider of foreign exchange rates, has expanded its Intraday Spots product to include the Asia-Pacific region, providing the market with 24-hour access to independent foreign exchange valuations.

Established in 1994, WM/Reuters is a joint venture between WM Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Street, and Reuters. Calculated by WM from real-time data supplied by Reuters, the WM/Reuters rates are billed as the industry's most independent and objective service for obtaining foreign exchange rates.

State Street's office in Sydney has recently added a team to produce the data and provide client support in the Asia-Pacific region. With the addition of an Australian presence, WM/Reuters will now provide the market with round-the-clock hourly fixings of foreign exchange rates.

'With the expansion of our team in Sydney, the market will benefit from having an independent source of currency quotes on a 24-hourly basis,' says Brian Dawson, a vice-president and business manager for WM/Reuters.

'For the first time, the Asia-Pacific markets will have access to accurate and reliable foreign exchange rates each hour. The rates are produced using a scientific methodology that enables improved transparency.'

The Intraday Spots service now covers 156 currencies. WM distributes currency rates to more than 1,000 locations via a range of vendors including Reuters, Bloomberg, Interactive Data, Nomura and NTT Data Financial. WM Company, which is based in Edinburgh, began publishing closing spot rates in 1994 in a joint venture with Reuters.