Infrastructure
Broker consolidation in the spotlight
LONDON – Consolidation of the broking industry is looming large again, with the unexpected announcement by Collins Stewart Tullett (CST) last week that it had received a number of bids for the company.
Deutsche boosts prime brokerage
LONDON – Deutsche Bank has extended its prime brokerage offering with the introduction of options, non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) and increased processing capabilities.
Reuters enters post-trade market
LONDON – Reuters is to move into post-trade settlement of FX transactions with the forthcoming launch of its Reuters Trade Notification Service (RTNS).
CLS cuts costs as well as risk, says survey
LONDON – The introduction of CLS has cut processing costs of FX transactions almost three-fold, according to a survey by Z/Yen, a city-based market research firm.
Industry resilient to shocks
NEW YORK – The new dynamics of the foreign exchange industry has meant that the industry is better equipped to react to major disruption in the market.
JP Morgan signs fund customer to Reuters
NEW YORK – JP Morgan became the first bank last week to go live with fund customers for Reuters' buy-side initiative Reuters Trading for Foreign Exchange (RTFX).
GFT opens Aussie office
SYDNEY – Global Forex Trading (GFT), the provider of real-time currency dealing, pricing and services for retail and institutional forex traders, has begun operating a field office in Sydney, Australia.
FX Connect hikes prices pre-upgrade
BOSTON – Multi-bank portal FX Connect has put up charges by 25–40% across the board, and is to implement a wide-scale upgrade of its system.
New name and chief executive for Tullet
NEW YORK – Tullett Financial has changed its name following the merger with Prebon, and named G Andrea Danese as chief executive. The company will now be known as Tullett Prebon Information.
CLS Bank settles new record in daily volume
LONDON AND NEW YORK – CLS Bank International (CLS Bank), the global settlement firm, set a new record for the volume of payment instructions settled in one day.
Hedge fund interest in forex continues
London – High profile banks and investment houses are launching currency fund of hedge funds (FOHFs), showing the continuing interest as FX as an asset class.
Italy most likely to pull out of euro
GLOBAL – Of the 12 member nations currently making up the euro, Italy is most likely to dump the currency, according to a survey conducted by FX Week .
NAB currency trader jailed
MELBOURNE – Luke Duffy, former head of the National Australia Bank’s (NAB) foreign currency options desk, has been sentenced to 29 months’ imprisonment for his part in the bank’s rogue trading scandal unearthed last year.
CLS bags world’s largest pension fund
AMSTERDAM – The world’s largest pension fund – the e170 billion Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP – has gone live on CLS as a third party of ABN Amro.
CLS touts for more fund business
SAN FRANCISCO – CLS Bank is to focus on driving up business from the investor community this year, as it seeks to expand globally.
‘One size fits all’ is not appropriate
Sabrina Jacobs, FX strategist, capital markets, at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, says Asian currencies need to be looked at on an individual basis
Romania takes Delta Dealing System
Bucharest – Dublin-based software vendor Delta Community has successfully entered the Romanian market.
‘No’ votes lead to record flows
LONDON – The ‘no’ votes on the EU constitutionreferendums last week led to unexpectedvolatility in the currency markets, and the highestvolumes ever seen on some platforms.
Benefiting from yuan revaluation
The Lloyds TSB Financial Markets team suggests how to benefit if the Chinese yuan revalues and Asia follows suit
Sybase moves into forex
DUBLIN, CALIFORNIA – Software vendor Sybase is to open its risk analytics platform to FX data. The vendor will now process risk and trade data for high-volume FX data feeds.
UK least likely to adopt euro
GLOBAL – Of the European Union members yet to join the euro, the UK is the least likely to join the single currency, according to a survey of FX Week readers.
FX to the fore at settlements conference
SAN FRANCISCO – Settlements industry body ISITC -IOA is to focus on FX for its summer 2005 conference to be held in San Francisco.