News
IG buys 87.5% of FXOnline Japan
TOKYO - IG Group, a London-based spread-betting company is acquiring an 87.5% stake worth about $207 million in Tokyo-based margin foreign exchange trading company FXOnline Japan.
Saxo Bank cuts 400 jobs
COPENHAGEN & LONDON - Saxo Bank is today (September 29) shedding up to 400 jobs globally as part of plans to streamline its business, officials tell FX Week .
Icap's NDFs trading down but not out
SINGAPORE - Current market volatility is hurting non-deliverable forwards (NDF) trading on Icap's electronic spot-broking system EBS, but the broker is optimistic about the development of this market.
Nomura rumours abound
LONDON - Nomura International was speculated to be in talks to buy the fixed-income divisions of Lehman Brothers, including the US dealer's foreign exchange operations last week.
Citi gains BoC Hong Kong for CLS
HONG KONG - Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BoC HK) has signed an agreement to use Citi's Global Transaction Services as its continuous-linked settlement (CLS) nostro agent for US dollar.
Forex hedging up in US
NEW YORK - Foreign exchange hedging ratios for 2009 year-end by US corporates reached historic levels in the third quarter, as companies sought to cover rising risk from the US dollar's upturn.
Margin FX boss Pryor leaves Cantor
LONDON - Steve Pryor, formerly director of margin foreign exchange at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe in London, has left the company.
WisdomTree adds EM ETFs
NEW YORK - WisdomTree, a New York-based guarantor, is set to introduce 25 new currency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with a focus on emerging market currencies, as it continues to deepen its footprint in this market.
EM currencies will weather the storm
LONDON - Analysts at Barings and State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) expect emerging market (EM) currencies to continue on a trajectory of strength, despite suffering bouts of weaknesses amid the current market turmoil.
OTP in USD/RUB first
MOSCOW - OTP Bank conducted its first USD/RUB trade as a market maker on LavaFX last Monday (September 22), with Dresdner Kleinwort as its prime broker.
Senior Lehman Brothers Asia staff keep their bonuses
HONG KONG - Nomura has agreed to guarantee the 2008 cash bonuses of at least 300 of Lehman Brothers' senior managing directors and vice-presidents in Asia working in fixed income, structured products and credit, said industry sources.
Tullett Prebon loses senior Asia staff
SINGAPORE - Tullett Prebon has lost two senior executives in Asia.
JPM offers new FX platform
LONDON - JP Morgan last week launched MorganDirect, a new proprietary foreign exchange trading platform that will eventually replace the incumbent JPex system.
EPFR tests EM forex flows
BOSTON - Fund flows data vendor EPFR Global is testing a new dataset that shows money flows into and out of emerging market (EM) and global currencies.
Barclays launches forex trend index
LONDON - Barclays Capital launched the Barclays Adaptive FX Trend Index last week, the latest in its range of investable foreign exchange indexes.
NAB grows structured products in Asia
SINGAPORE - National Australia Bank's investment bank, nabCapital, has hired Peter Zeitsch as a director to build a structured products business in Singapore.
Nomura builds in emerging markets
LONDON - Nomura has hired a five-strong emerging markets foreign exchange team, four of whom formerly worked at Bear Stearns.
Strong Q3 for Goldman and Morgan Stanley
LONDON - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley revealed strong third-quarter performances for their currencies operations, despite analysts casting doubt over the future of both businesses as standalone investment banks.
UniCredit hires in HK, loses in NY
HONG KONG - UniCredit has hired Danny Khoo in a senior position at its spot desk in Hong Kong.
Wacker joins JP Morgan
LONDON - JP Morgan is understood to have strengthened its senior foreign exchange salesforce in London by recruiting a former sales head from Dutch rival ABN Amro.
OCBC cashes in on Asian DCR growth
SINGAPORE - OCBC Bank expects to see 20% growth in its dual currency returns (DCR) business in Singapore next year, following implementation of a structured deposit pricing and processing system from FinIQ, said bank officials.
Swedbank signs on to Aleri's LMS
STOCKHOLM - Swedbank has become the latest dealer to introduce a liquidity management system (LMS), selecting Aleri's LMS technology to manage liquidity risk across all asset classes.