The controversy over the Reuters' platform -- forex brokers have rallied against it on the grounds that it is an attempt to enter broking -- had snowballed into a major crisis for the wire agency's proposed offering. The BEBA members have even threatened to pull out the wire agency's "feeds" from their dealing rooms, and boycott `Forex'98 to be held in Hyderabad between August 30 and September 1 this year. Reuters is the sponsor of Forex'98.

The pulling out of Reuters "feeds" by BEBA's 70-odd members will present Bridge News -- now merged with Telerate -- with a great opportunity to lock into new business in the fiercely competitive on-line information segment.

Brokers cite the Hongkong Monetary Authority's Bankers & Brokers list, which names Reuters (because of its matchmaking system), and its competitor, Electronic Broking System (EBS) as brokers, to press home their point.

BEBA says it has no hestitation in going in for a legal remedy in case Fedai gives in to Reuters. The association has already armed itself with legal opinion on the matter from Udwadia, Udeshi, Desai, Berjis & Chinoy, and Little & Co.

The FAI executive commmittee has 16 banks and four forex broking houses as members. They are Bank of America, ABN Amro Bank, Deustche Bank, Hongkong Bank, ANZ Grindlays Bank, Citibank, Banque Indosuez, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Syndicate Bank, Vysaya Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Global Trust Bank and IDBI Bank with Kanji Pitamber & Company, Mecklai & Mecklai, Parekh Forex Pvt Ltd and Vrajlal Thakkar, representing forex brokers' interests.