News
Plain vanilla no longer flavour of the month
LONDON & NEW YORK - Foreign exchange staff working in plain vanilla trading and sales will need to look out for their jobs in 2008, as banks reduce hires, recruitment consultants tell FX Week .
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.
Automated trading to make up 90% of futures by 2010
NEW YORK - Pit trading is fading fast. An estimated 50% of all futures markets transactions in 2007 occurred through automated trading strategies - including market-making and quantitative black-box trading activities - and this proportion will rise to…
VAR exceptions rise in third quarter
NEW YORK & ZURICH - Volatility in financial markets led investment banks to far exceed thresholds for trading losses in the third quarter, casting doubt on their risk modelling.
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.
CME embarks on Asian FX drive
SINGAPORE - In its first foreign exchange hire in Asia, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME) has poached KC Lam, Icap's head of sales, as head of Asian FX sales.
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.
RCM IPO raises $183 million
LONDON - Record Currency Management (RCM) raised £88.55 million from its London initial public offering (IPO) on November 28, with a share price of 160p.
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.
Volatility profits Icap
LONDON - High volatility in currency markets led to a 35% rise in first-half foreign exchange revenues at interdealer broker Icap, according to results released last week.
New Deutsche indexes map currency correlation in Asia
SINGAPORE - Deutsche Bank has launched a set of indexes designed to capture returns generated by the apparent growing co-ordination of currency policy among Asian central banks.
BNP unveils new FX group
LONDON, TOKYO & HONG KONG - BNP Paribas is merging its global foreign exchange business with its FX and interest rates hybrid group to take advantage of cross-asset opportunities, a source has told FX Week .
BGC departs retail FX
LONDON - Interdealer broker BGC Partners is exiting the retail foreign exchange market to focus on core interdealer broking business, a source has told FX Week .
LBBW goes live with Misys options module
STUTTGART - Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) has gone live with a new options module from technology vendor Misys, as part of a wider upgrade in the bank's back office treasury operations.
Citi and Goldman break into retail FX
NEW YORK & COPENHAGEN - Citi and Goldman Sachs are breaking into the retail foreign exchange market by launching an online FX margin trading platform and buying a 10% stake in an online retail CFD company, respectively.
India to trade rupee futures
MUMBAI - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is preparing to introduce rupee futures to create more hedging tools in light of rising capital inflows.
Banks expand Asia research
SINGAPORE & HONG KONG - Asian analysts are in hot demand as a number of banks build up Asian research teams to match client interest in the region's emerging economies.
Icap follows new pricing model for EBS
LONDON - Interdealer broker Icap is introducing a volume-based pricing model for electronic spot broking system EBS, as it evolves to fit the changing landscape.
Former Fimat e-forex chief joins Hotspot FX
JERSEY CITY - Chris DeFilippo, former New York-based head of electronic foreign exchange at institutional brokerage firm Fimat is today (November 26) starting at electronic communications network (ECN) Hotspot FX.
Constantia upgrades
SAN FRANCISCO - Calypso Technology has been licensed by Austria's Constantia Privatbank to provide a cross-asset class platform for front, middle and back office.
BNP demands $50 million from SembCorp
SINGAPORE - BNP Paribas is demanding US$50.7 million from Singapore-based marine engineering company SembCorp Marine's subsidiary, Jurong Shipyard, for losses from unauthorised foreign exchange trades, the company revealed last month.
Bonuses expected to plummet in 2008
LONDON - Foreign exchange staff should expect smaller bonuses in 2008, following the summer's credit crisis, consultants tell FX Week .
JP Morgan unveils new multi-commodity index
LONDON - JP Morgan has launched a new commodity curve index that references 33 commodities across various maturities.