Articles by Saima Farooqi
MAS approves SMX for commodities and currencies
SINGAPORE – The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted final approval to the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), to operate as a regulated and licensed exchange.
UniCredit restarts build in Asia
HONG KONG – UniCredit has made a key hire in Hong Kong as it reinstates plans to grow its presence in the Asia-Pacific, after spending the past year restructuring its fixed-income and currencies (FIC) business.
BAML live on CLS/Traiana by October
NEW YORK - Bank of America Merrill Lynch is due to go live on the CLS/Traiana joint venture trade-aggregation service by October, making it the last of the eight founding banks to begin processing through the service.
Clearers pile into Asia
The region seizing the opportunity to offer central clearing for over-the-counter products seems to be the Asia-Pacific, which explains LCH.Clearnet’s plans to aggressively push into that market.
Interdealer brokers get boost from FX
LONDON - BGC Partners saw a 54.6% rise in foreign exchange revenues in the second quarter, due to a continuing rebound in global volumes, the broker reported last Thursday (August 5).
Exchange trading sees sharp rise in July
CHICAGO & LONDON - Exchange trading experienced a sharp year-on-year rise in July, overshadowing a marginal increase on traditional spot systems.
Wade's in at Deutsche Bank
NEW YORK - Deutsche Bank has boosted its electronic foreign exchange sales effort to corporate clients with a key hire from Citi.
Currency managers down in June
STAMFORD, CT - The Parker FX index made a loss at -0.79% in June, as currency markets saw a broad-based reversal of currencies versus the US dollar.
Markets brace for stress tests
LONDON – The euro traded firmly ahead of the European bank stress test results last Friday (July 23), despite expectations several banks will fail. But analysts warned the common currency is still a risk asset.
CLS targets buy side with Omgeo
NEW YORK - CLS and Omgeo have teamed up to improve post-trade reporting by the buy-side community with the addition of CLS FX instructions to Omgeo’s standard settlement instruction (SSI) database.
Hotspot FX volumes up year-on-year
JERSEY CITY, NJ - Hotspot FX reported average daily volumes of $37.2 billion – double count – in June, up from $22.5 billion a year earlier.
CIBC continues FSG build
TORONTO - CIBC has made four key hires in its financial institutions group (FSG) in London, Toronto and Hong Kong, as it builds up its global capabilities.
Nomura becomes settlement member of CLS
LONDON - Nomura has gone live as a CLS settlement member and shareholder as of July 12, having previously used third-party settlement services from Citi, the bank announced on July 19.
Enforce clearing, catapult FX into the big league, say FX Week USA panellists
NEW YORK - Counterparty risk is preventing FX from becoming a major asset class and must be addressed, according to panellists discussing the future of the FX industry at the FX Week USA congress in New York last Tuesday (July 13).
Power to the high-frequency traders
Speakers at the FX Week USA congress held in New York last Tuesday (July 13) were resoundingly supportive of the role high-frequency traders (HFT) have had in ensuring liquidity in the market.
End-users support central clearing
NEW YORK - The push for central clearing is increasingly being driven by end-users seeking operational efficiencies, rather than regulators, according to Jason Vitale, global head of dbClear FX at Deutsche Bank in New York.
CFTC rules increase credit risk
NEW YORK - Proposed rules to limit leverage on margin FX trading accounts at retail forex brokers will have the unintended consequence of increasing counterparty risk, according to Josh Levy, managing director at Tactical Asset Management.
ParkerFX makes small gain in May
STAMFORD, CT - The Parker FX Index has reported a return of 0.14% for May, as currency markets were marked by risk aversion amid fears of a double-dip recession, increased risk contagion from the European sovereign debt crisis and significant declines in…
RBS adds in e-sales
STAMFORD, CT – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is increasing coverage of electronic sales to financial institutions with a hire from Barclays Capital in the US.
Exshaw signs up former colleague
NEW YORK - Christian Exshaw, head of distribution and global derivatives at CIBC, has recruited former Dresdner and Deutsche Bank colleague Ricardo Zulliger in New York.
Short volatility up in June
LONDON - Currency managers going short volatility would have been top performers in June, benefiting from European market stress, indicates research from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
StreamBase Partners with MarketFactory
NEW YORK - StreamBase has partnered with algorithmic FX trading applications vendor MarketFactory to enable hedge funds, banks and proprietary trading firms to speed their ‘time to first trade’ in the spot foreign exchange market.
BlackTree live on dbSelect
LONDON - BlackTree Investments, a London-based currency manager founded by an ex-Lehman Brothers fixed-income team, has gone live on Deutsche Bank’s multi-manager managed account platform, dbSelect.
Retail brokers build up product range amid regulatory change
SYDNEY & TOKYO - Retail trading companies are diversifying the range of products tradable via contracts-for-difference (CFDs) as regulators continue to crack down on retail forex margin trading globally.