Infrastructure
StanChart tops Asian interbank poll
HONG KONG -- Standard Chartered was the runaway winner for currency products in FX Week sister publication AsiaRisk ’s annual interbank derivatives poll.
Dollar dive helps set new CME records
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported a succession of record volumes last week, as the dollar’s dive prompted heavy trading in the world’s biggest exchange-traded FX marketplace.
Reuters’ Chinese data deal
SHANGHAI -- Reuters has signed an agreement with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) to deliver enhanced financial market information to CFETS’s customers. CFETS, a subsidiary of the People’s Bank of China, offers yuan foreign exchange…
FSA warns over complex products
LONDON -- Financial Services Authority (FSA) chairman Callum McCarthy has warned of the dangers of banks selling complicated financial products to customers who do not fully understand them.
Market eyes fresh dollar falls
LONDON -- Forex market analysts and traders are predicting fresh falls for the dollar in the coming months after euro/dollar hit successive record highs last week.
FXall breaks volume record
NEW YORK -- Growing institutional use of FXall helped the multi-bank portal set a new volume record in November, it announced last week.
Lack of IT raises cost of processing options
LONDON -- The transactional processing cost of spot FX is falling, but a lack of systems investment means the cost of processing currency options remains flat this year, according to the third annual survey of banks by London-based risk management…
FX scam at top banks exposed
NEW YORK -- A currency trading scam allegedly carried out by five traders at top global banks, nine brokers and three officials at retail FX firms -- including a former member of the Federal Reserve’s FX committee -- was uncovered last week as part of…
Soft Accumulator: improving hedging levels
BACKGROUND: European importers who need to buy US dollars are not complaining about the current euro/dollar rate of exchange.
Options use soars, says BIS
BASEL -- FX options business increased by 34% year-on-year in H1, according to Bank for International Settlements statistics released last week.
Central banks need to clarify FX intervention
TOKYO -- Central banks should be encouraged to disclose information on their motives for intervening in foreign exchange markets, according to Priscilla Chiu from the London office of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). In a Bank for International…
China moves to ease yuan pressure
BEIJING -- In an effort to relieve upward pressure on the yuan, the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) relaxed restrictions on outbound investment flows last week.
New era dawns for FX data
NEW YORK -- A new era in FX data is on its way, as the continuous-linked settlement service (CLS) for forex prepares to sell its market data back to users early next year.
Traiana goes live, adds brokers
NEW YORK -- The e-FX prime brokerage industry picked up momentum last week, as the first banks went live on Traiana’s automated FX prime brokerage software and two more key prime broker banks signed up for the system.
Dollar weakness capped in short term
NEW YORK -- A short-term bounce in the US dollar was boosted by stronger US data last week, including better than expected Q3 corporate results, combined with more intervention from Asian central banks.
FX shock from fund upheaval
TOKYO -- Massive upheaval in the Japanese pension fund industry is set to have major implications for forex flows and relationships, as the process of daiko henjo -- the return of public funds to the government -- gets underway.
SuperDerivatives spices up Xerox Mexicana
MEXICO CITY -- US printing technology company Xerox Corporation has signed a deal with SuperDerivatives to use the UK-based forex technology firm’s FX option benchmark pricing system in Xerox Mexicana, its Mexican subsidiary.
FX shock from fund upheaval
TOKYO -- Massive upheaval in the Japanese pension fund industry is set to have major implications for forex flows and relationships, as the process of daiko henjo -- the return of public funds to the government -- gets underway.
Pressure on funds’ currency management set to intensify
LONDON -- An inquiry into the failure of a prominent insurer's staff to hedge risks will bring increased pressure on pension funds to address their currency strategy.
New CLS currencies are adding 2,000 trades a day
SINGAPORE -- Continuous-linked settlement (CLS), the settlement service for foreign exchange, is now settling between 1,500 and 2,000 transactions a day in the four new currencies that went live at the beginning of September.