Infrastructure
Reduced growth will fuel FX competition
As the market gears up for a fresh year of activity, Patrick Lefler, FX consultant at Wall Street Systems, predicts the key FX market developments in 2008
FX adds shine to banks' Q4 results
BOSTON & NEW YORK - State Street's acquisition of Currenex led the US bank to a strong 2007 fourth-quarter performance, despite the year's subprime woes.
Citi launches Japan desk in India
NEW DELHI - Citigroup is launching a Japan-focused desk in New Delhi at the end of January, to cater to a growing number of Japanese corporate clients in the country.
CLS product expansion welcomed
CLS's announcement last week that it has begun settling credit derivatives trades demonstrates the industry utility's efforts to reduce the unit cost and total bill for settling forex trades over the system.
Rand Merchant Bank to roll out e-trading
JOHANNESBURG - Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), a division of FirstRand Bank, plans to go live with a multi-asset class electronic trading platform by Q3.
Barclays promotes four FX managing directors
LONDON & FRANKFURT - Barclays Capital's foreign exchange division has started the new year with four new managing directors.
Swedbank goes live with e-FX price stream
STOCKHOLM - Swedbank plans to offer streaming foreign exchange rates over its proprietary platform and multi-bank platform, FXall, by the end of this month.
There's nothing as certain as change
Happy New Year! As we enter 2008, one thing is for certain - the evolution of the foreign exchange industry continues at an unprecedented rate.
FXall posts record volumes for 2007
LONDON - Multibank portal FXall reported record annual trading volumes of over $13.4 trillion - single count - in 2007, a 37% rise over 2006 figures.
Banks brace for algo trading boom in 2008
As the industry continues to digest the credit market's meltdown, foreign exchange trading volumes continue to boom. Representatives of the major FX banks, Credit Suisse, HSBC and Saxo Bank, discuss the main technology trends in e-FX trading to watch in…
Saxo in executive shake-up
COPENHAGEN - Christian Frahm, senior executive director and head of Europe, excluding UK and the Middle East, at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen, left the bank last month.
StanChart first for trade volumes
LONDON - Standard Chartered has been ranked first for trade transaction volumes in Hong Kong, Singapore and the UAE by industry messaging co-operative Swift.
Parker FX Index up 1.4% in October
STAMFORD, CT - The Parker FX Index was up 1.44% in October as managers benefited from a declining US dollar, which was down -1.6% against a basket of G-6 currencies.
CLS launches NDF settlement
LONDON - ABN Amro, Credit Suisse, Fortis, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland became the first settlement banks to go live with non-deliverable for-wards settlement over settlement system CLS last week.
Icap completes Traiana deal
LONDON & NEW YORK - Interdealer broker Icap completed the acquisition of New York-based post-trade technology vendor Traiana on December 4.
Credit Suisse e-trades exotics
LONDON - Credit Suisse has enabled trading in structured exotic foreign exchange options on its proprietary electronic trading platform, Merlin, with select institutional clients globally, the Swiss dealer said last week.
Overlay launches EM currency fund
DUBLIN - Overlay Asset Management has launched a specialist fund to invest exclusively in emerging market currencies.
Forex cons caught red-handed
DETROIT - The Michigan Federal Court has ordered Millenium Trading Group and Worldwide Clearing of Florida, as well as Florida resident Cedric Stanton, to pay more than $10 million in sanctions.
South Korea FX on the rise
SEOUL - Average daily volumes in South Korea's interbank foreign exchange market rose 33.2% in the third quarter of this year versus the second quarter, reaching $23.05 billion, amid heightened FX volatility.
StanChart names flow head
SINGAPORE - Standard Chartered has named its new global head of flow foreign exchange options trading, a year after Richard Leighton was promoted to London-based global head of FX from a role as global head of FX options.
Commerzbank loses sales chief
LONDON - Commerzbank has seen the departure of Hugues de la Marnierre, London-based global head of sales, amid a restructure at the bank.
Fincad launches in the UK
DUBLIN - Financial analytics software and service provider Fincad has expanded its international operations by establishing an EMEA headquarters in Dublin.
CLS Group deepens footprint in emerging markets
SEOUL - Shinhan Bank has become a shareholder in CLS Group, bringing the total number of Asian shareholders in the settlement system to 12.