Foreign Exchange Market Organization in Selected Developing and Transition Economies: Evidence from a Survey Jorge Iván Canales Kriljenko imf working paper wp04/4

Voice brokers conduct foreign exchange intermediation by matching dealers’ foreign 
exchange supply and demand without taking a position themselves. They reduce search 
costs for their clients while preserving the anonymity of the trading counterparties. In 
particular, voice brokers connect dealers who may not be willing to reveal their trading 
intentions to other dealers or may not realize that they have matching interests otherwise. 
24
For a description of the early experience with this type of foreign exchange auctions in 
developing countries adopting flexible exchange rate regimes, see Kovanen (1994) and Quirk 
and others (1987). 
25
Note that auction frequency is more important in pure auction markets in which dealers do 
not operate than in those in which the two types coexist, as dealers could also smooth the 
unnecessary exchange rate volatility by managing their net open positions between the 
arrivals of market orders. 

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Voice brokers actively engage in search trading counterparties, often discovering customers 
willing to trade only when presented with a concrete offer and who may not want to advertise 
their interest to the market (Harris, 2002). The brokers can offer firm two-way exchange rates 
from the firm orders they receive from dealers willing to sell and from those willing to buy 
foreign exchange. If a dealer trades at the broker quotations, the broker reveals the name of 
the counterparty only to the dealer initiating the transaction. Voice brokers charge a 
commission for their intermediation services, which lower the searching costs of finding a 
matching counterparty through economies of scale. 
 
Electronic Broking Systems 
 
An electronic broking system is a centralized scheme for electronically matching