News
Canadian dollar reaches record highs
OTTAWA – The Canadian dollar rose to record highs last week, amid better than expected growth leading to anticipation of interest rate rises.
HSBC suffers losses in New York, London and Bristol
LONDON, BRISTOL & NEW YORK – HSBC is said to have lost members of its global FX team in three cities.
FXMS embarks on global push
LONDON, CHICAGO & NEW YORK – Eight new roles have been created at Reuters and CME joint venture FXMarketSpace (FXMS), to drive the platform's continued global expansion.
Cantor to merge BGC and eSpeed in defensive move
NEW YORK & LONDON – Cantor Fitz-gerald's decision to merge subsidiary BGC Partners with separately listed affiliate eSpeed in a $1.3 billion deal is being viewed as defensive by market participants.
SwapsWire rolls out to South Korea
SEOUL – SwapsWire has gone live in South Korea. Interdealer brokers Tullett Prebon and BGC Capital Markets are now using the service to provide OTC trade confirmation and straight-through-processing (STP) services to dealing clients in the country.
Parker index rises on risk-adjusted basis
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT – The Parker FX index saw a 1.99% return in April, with three-quarters of indexed programmes recording positive results, the remainder reporting losses.
Exchange-traded rupee futures contract to launch
DUBAI – On June 7, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) will launch the first exchange-traded Indian rupee futures contract.
China's foreign assets reach $1.63 trillion
BEIJING – China's foreign financial assets increased 33% year-on-year to reach $1.63 trillion by the end of 2006, according to a statement released on May 25 by the regulator Safe (State Administration of Foreign Exchange).
Banks strike landmark deal in Vietnam
HONG KONG – HSBC and Standard Chartered last week entered into the first interbank Vietnamese dong interest rate swap, marking a landmark deal for the local currency derivatives market.
CFTC charges Florida firm with FX options fraud
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission last week (May 25) charged Addison Enterprise with illegally selling FX options and defrauding customers.
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Lehman set to capitalise on FXCM
LONDON & NEW YORK – Lehman Brothers is in the running to acquire a 35% stake in online currency trading platform FXCM, FX Week has learned.
Credit Suisse expands asset management coverage
LONDON – Credit Suisse has made three senior London-based hires, in a continued push to grow its institutional distribution efforts.
Man Financial takes on TwoFour
WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK – Broker Man Financial has licensed technology vendor TwoFour’s trade processing tool for its European and US treasury operations.
Survey reveals forex risk as a major concern
EDINBURGH – The majority of corporate treasurers view FX risk as their biggest concern, according to a survey released earlier this month.
BIS review reveals slowing growth in OTC derivatives
BASEL – Growth in over-the-counter FX derivatives slowed in the second half of 2006, rising only 5% versus 21% in the first half of the year, according to research released last week.
Japan volumes breach symbolic barrier
TOKYO – Retail margin trading volumes in Japan hit ¥109 trillion ($896 billion) in the first quarter, smashing the symbolic ¥100 trillion mark for the first time, the Financial Futures Association of Japan said last week.
Credit Agricole and Macquarie post mixed results
PARIS & SYDNEY – Credit Agricole and Macquarie Bank posted differing results earlier this month, with the former experiencing buoyant gains in its FX business, the latter a decline.
EBS acquisition drives Icap results
LONDON – Interdealer broker Icap’s profits for the year ending March 31 rose 11%, largely on the back of last year’s acquisition of electronic broker EBS.
GCC currency uncertain after Kuwait abandons dollar peg
SAFAT, KUWAIT – The decision to abandon the Kuwaiti dinar’s peg to the US dollar in favour of a basket of major currencies has brought into question plans to introduce a single currency for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
UniCredit strengthens forex in London and New York
LONDON & NEW YORK – UniCredit has strengthened its selling power by making additional FX sales hires in two areas.
EBS puts key stations in front of buy side
LONDON – Interdealer broker Icap is to begin piloting an extension to EBS Prime, to enable manual keyboard access to the EBS platform for the buy side in coming weeks.