Thomson Reuters Sees Successful Upswing in Eikon Messenger Clients in South Korea

Number of Eikon Messenger users in South Korea grows exponentially after discontinuation of Yahoo legacy messaging service
SEOUL - Thomson Reuters has seen a surge in financial services clients joining Thomson Reuters signature messaging platform, Eikon Messenger, in South Korea. Following the announcement that Yahoo will begin shutting down its legacy messaging client and API service between August 5, 2016 and Aug 31, 2016, financial services firms in South Korea are choosing Eikon Messenger as their go-to messaging platform. Up 42% since March, there are now 482 sites contactable on Eikon Messenger in South Korea.

Thomson Reuters Eikon Messenger is an established, open and secure instant messaging collaboration tool for the global financial community. Available as part of Thomson Reuters Eikon and as a standalone, free-of-charge application, Eikon Messenger aids regulatory compliance by including bilateral chat controls in conjunction with a suite of active compliance tools, including features for keyword blocking, disclaimers and policy enforcement. Eikon Messenger is also supported on iOS, Blackberry, Android and Windows devices. It provides users with access to the world’s largest open directory of contacts, spanning more than 285,000 individuals in 25,000 firms across 180 countries.

Mirae Asset Global Investments and Korea Investment Management are two examples of major financial companies that have decided to integrate Eikon Messenger into daily communication workflow e.g. pre-trading. The global trend towards tighter regulatory requirements has encouraged companies across all segments of the financial industry in South Korea to migrate to Eikon Messenger to meet compliance needs and participate in the global financial community.

“Eikon Messenger plays an important role in financial trading, and the platform provides many benefits including access to major players in the global financial market,” said Sehoon Oh, General Manager of FX & Derivatives Trading Department at KEB Hana Bank.

“We are pleased to highlight our successes and progress in the South Korean market. We have seen unprecedented levels of demand from financial institutions in South Korea across both the buy-side and sell-side to connect using Eikon Messenger,” said Stuart Brown, Head of Financial, Asia at Thomson Reuters. “Eikon Messenger comes with a comprehensive suite of tools to help firms meet compliance requirements in an efficient and transparent way. By running on an open and compliant network, Eikon Messenger encourages interconnectivity and openness in the financial industry,” he added.

In keeping with its open platform commitment, Thomson Reuters recently announced an agreement with CME Group to implement connectivity between Eikon Messenger and CME Pivot Instant Messaging in support of open and compliant cross-industry communication for financial and commodities markets. In a separate announcement, financial services firm INTL FCStone Inc. and European energy companies Griffin, 42FS, Marex Spectron and CEZ named Thomson Reuters Eikon Messenger as one of their instant messaging networks of choice.