Nordea Bank is now using the AthenaTrader platform by New York-based IT firm Aegisoft to bring together a number of marketplaces for its foreign exchange trading desks.

AthenaTrader is an automated execution management system for equities, options, futures, and FX trading. Banks, brokers and buy-side institutions use AthenaTrader for its keypad support, customisable trading features and open programming interface, the firm said.

"Nordea required an execution management system to trade in the FX marketplace," said Stan Adelman, president of Aegisoft. “Their traders demand best execution coupled with rapid access to many liquidity pools. We look forward to assisting Nordea in managing its growing FX business."

In 2001 the Finnish-Swedish MeritaNordbanken merged with Danish Unibank and Norwegian Christiania Kreditkasse and formed Nordea. The bank now also operates in the Baltic countries, Poland and Luxembourg.

Nordea Bank has €125.6 billion ($179 billion) in assets under management, as at 31 December 2008.