News
Clients switch on to Portware FX
NEW YORK - Portware has seen a 70% increase in clients using Portware FX, its real-time foreign exchange aggregation system, since the start of 2008, according to Harrell Smith, head of product strategy for the firm in New York.
UBS upgrades FXPB tools
ZURICH - UBS has updated its foreign exchange prime brokerage system with an automated trade checker, in a bid to tackle duplication of trade messages.
Thomson adds Icap tick data
JERSEY CITY & LONDON - Interdealer broker Icap is making historical tick data for foreign exchange, fixed-income and interest rate products available through Thomson Reuters, in a bid to broaden its client base among algorithmic trading, valuation and…
Lehman's Burgess now at ING
LONDON - Ian Burgess, formerly of Lehman Brothers, has joined ING's institutional sales division in London.
WestLB drops RealStream
DÜSSELDORF - WestLB is no longer using Cognotec's RealStream Manager and has signed up to Eurobase's Siena Gateway, in a move to streamline its electronic foreign exchange infrastructure.
Merrill Lynch FX trio reunited at CIBC
TORONTO & LONDON - Christian Exshaw, formerly global head of foreign exchange sales, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, at Merrill Lynch in London, has resurfaced at CIBC World Markets.
Value managers come up trumps in October
LONDON - Currency managers using the value strategy are likely to have fared well in October, a month described as one of the most volatile in history, according to research by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
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.
StatPro chooses GFI for options data
LONDON - StatPro, a London-based vendor of analytics and data systems for the asset management industry, has signed a contract to use GFI's foreign exchange options data in its pricing and risk management services.
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.
Exshaw rejoins Culham, Carrington
TORONTO - Christian Exshaw, formerly global head of foreign exchange sales, EMEA at Merrill Lynch in London, has resurfaced at CIBC World Markets.
Strong FX fails to lift CME in Q3
CHICAGO - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) posted record volumes in foreign exchange products in Q3 but suffered a $28 million loss associated with FXMarketSpace, its joint-venture platform with Thomson Reuters.
Nomura reports poor H2 results
TOKYO - Nomura's global markets division suffered pre-tax losses of ¥148.3 billion in the bank's half-year results, released last week (October 28).
Investors shun FX-only funds
LONDON - Fund managers are abandoning foreign exchange-only funds in favour of currency overlay programmes, according to research by London-based client strategy firm ClientKnowledge.
South Korea hits back at foreign media
SEOUL - The South Korean government hit back at foreign media last Wednesday (October 29), claiming Korea is better positioned to withstand the global economic crisis now than it was during the 1997 Asian crisis.
RBS sells e5m note linked to new FX Radar
LONDON - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has sold its first structured product linked to the new FX Radar Index, an automated index linked to 20 emerging market currencies.
Citi's Sherrard relocates to Asia
LONDON & SINGAPORE - Rodney Sherrard, a foreign exchange options trader for Citi in London, is transferring to the bank's Singapore office to work in correlation trading.
UBS chops 13 in forex
ZURICH - Stephane Treny, global head of foreign exchange corporate sales for UBS, was one of 13 redundancies from the FX team at the Swiss bank's Zurich office last Tuesday (October 28).
StanChart revamps e-pricing
SINGAPORE - Standard Chartered has gone live with a liquidity aggregator developed for its foreign exchange electronic pricing and trading division in Singapore.
FX chiefs made partners at Goldman Sachs
LONDON - Kevin Connors and Paddy Boyle, London-based members of Goldman Sachs' foreign exchange division, were made partners in the biennial induction of new members to the partnership pool last Wednesday (October 29).