FYI.  Good idea.  But, I think we may have some exposure to manage if there are follow-up articles.  If the 200 lot product is not offered universally to all EOL customers, it's a change from the way we have positioned EnronOnline.  There may a legal issue with it as well.  It will be helpful for me to know how offering the product selectively benefits Enron.  

Kal


UK:
Enron ups online metals transaction sizes.

09/27/2001
Reuters English News Service
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.

LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Commodities trader Enron has amended its internet
trading platform EnronOnline (www.enrononline.com) to allow some users to
increase the size of metals transactions.

For selected clients, Enron is now making markets in three months copper and
aluminium for maximum 200-lot transactions, compared with the standard 20-lot
markets on the system.
For the larger-volume deals Enron is quoting a wider $4 bid-ask spread rather
than the standard $2 spread.

Joe Gold, president of Enron Metals, said, "The 200-lot market was developed
because a number of people asked us to put something of a larger size on
there."

He said the 200-lot market was open to a restricted number of users, but was
not focused on any one particular section of the market.

"People who like large lots tend to be big producers, some of the funds, and
so on. They're people who have a commercial relationship with us already," he
said.

Traders said the increased transaction size could give Enron an added edge
when competing for fund business.

"It's a big step up in liquidity. If I was them my first call would be to the
top 10 fund managers to say 'why don't you stop messing around with phone
calls and come to the screen where you can trade 200 lots at the click of a
button?'" said one.

"Even if they don't manage to get these guys' business, they've raised the
bar. Their other clients may have to conform to the Enron model, offering
200-lot deals and maybe a $3 spread if they want to beat Enron."

U.S.-based Enron Corp became a major player in the metals trade in May last
year when it acquired MG plc, a leading independent international metals
dealing firm in London which had previously absorbed fellow LME ring-dealers
Rudolf Wolff & Co and Billiton Metals Ltd.

In July last year the company announced the first physical metals transaction
on EnronOnline.

The system differs from the screen trading systems operated by the London
Metal Exchange (LME) and UK-based metals and energy broker Spectron in that
the trading platform is open to a broad range of users but Enron is the sole
counter-party in each transaction.

Both the LME's LME Select and the Spectron trading platform enable trading
between individual users, but limit membership to Category 1 (ring dealing)
and Category 2 (associate broker clearing) members of the LME.



Folder Name: Rahil Jafry
Relevance Score on Scale of 100: 89

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