Infrastructure
Forwards spreads start to tighten
LONDON & NEW YORK - Dealers are reporting a retreat in forwards spreads, reflecting marginal improvements in liquidity as Libor eases after weeks of government and central bank action.
Parker FX bounces back
STAMFORD, CT - The Parker FX Index regained lost ground by clocking a 0.24% return during September, as investors' avoidance of emerging market currencies and US banks' hoarding of liquidity caused a continued US dollar appreciation.
A call to action on electronic pricing
The protracted explosion in bid/ask spreads and implosion in liquidity since mid-September is causing mounting frustration among algorithmic traders.
Lehman close-out DTCC's largest ever
NEW YORK - The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which provides post-trade clearing and settlement services in the US capital markets, has completed the largest close-out in its history, clearing more than $500 billion of market…
Risk aversion hinders EBU
LONDON - Risk aversion in the financial markets has led to a drop-off in demand for Barclays Capital's synthetic European currency, the European Borrowing Unit (EBU), launched last year.
AthenaTrader 4.2 features more FX tools
NEW YORK - Custom trading and testing software vendor Aegisoft will add new tools to the next release of AthenaTrader, aimed at giving the end user greater control of foreign exchange trades.
Managed Models adds two new clients
LONDON - London-based data analytics company Managed Models has signed on two more banks, as institutions seek to add efficiency to foreign exchange liquidity management operations.
E-trading could free Asia from dollar dependency
SINGAPORE - The expansion of electronic trading could lessen Asia's dependency on the US dollar as a vehicle currency, according to Yosuke Tsuyuguchi, director of Bank of Japan's Centre for Monetary Co-operation in Asia.
BNP Paribas ups the ante in forex
LONDON - BNP Paribas plans to roll out a new foreign exchange trading platform to select clients by the end of the year, in a bid to grow its presence in FX.
The confusion over central clearing
Over the past month, the concept of central counterparty (CCP) clearing has taken centre stage, as concerns over counterparty risk consume the market in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September.
BoNY signs up to GFI's Fenics FX
NEW YORK - Bank of New York Mellon has signed a three-year licence for GFI Fenics FX, a pricing and risk management software system.
Wall St Systems launches ESN
LONDON & PARIS - Wall Street Systems is in discussion with a Tier II and two Tier III US banks for use of its pay-as-you-go post-trade processing utility, Electronic Settlement Network (ESN).
Futures broker RCG buys MG Financial
CHICAGO & NEW YORK - Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG) completed the acquisition of online foreign exchange trading company MG Financial on October 15.
City Index drops three in London
LONDON - Retail trading company City Index laid off three foreign exchange staff from its margin FX provider, IFX Markets, in London last Thursday (October 16), as it integrates the FX business with recently acquired FX Solutions.
BarCap picks Caplin for rates
LONDON - Barclays Capital has signed a contract to purchase web-based application Caplin Trader for its fixed-income electronic commerce system.
Interbank lending eases further
LONDON - The Ted spread, along with overnight and three-month Libor, fell for the fourth day in succession after European governments announced bail-out packages on Monday (October 13), and the US followed suit on Tuesday.
Credit Suisse launches currency basket options
LONDON - Credit Suisse has introduced currency basket options on Merlin, its proprietary electronic foreign exchange structured products trading platform, in response to client demand.
Caplin Systems a star onboarder
LONDON - Caplin Systems, a London-based web technology vendor, has signed two major European banks to its multi-asset trading platform, Caplin Trader.
Colombia fruitful for Citi settlement
BOGOTA & NEW YORK - Citi's Colombia-based domestic settlement service began settling more than $1.3 billion in FX trades daily in September, representing in excess of 80% of the Colombian wholesale FX market.
JDFX gets smart with Kontrol
ZURICH - Foreign exchange trading company JDFX has capitalised on an increasing focus on risk management within financial markets by launching Kontrol, a system built to eliminate inefficiencies and dangers caused by calculating risk several times a day…
360T offers multi-leg swaps
FRANKFURT - Multi-dealer trading vendor 360 Treasury Systems (360T) is set to introduce multi-leg foreign exchange swap trading on its cross-product trading platform, 360T TEX, in response to client demand.