News
HSBC trades non-deliverable swaption
HONG KONG – HSBC last week traded the first ever option on a renminbi non-deliverable interest rate swap.
CLS moves into OTC derivatives
NEW YORK – Settlement system CLS has begun working with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to provide central settlement of payments for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.
Salesmen and structurers are in demand, survey finds
LONDON – Forex sales professionals and options traders saw the highest turnover this year, and demand for these staff is set to increase in 2007.
NAB options saga closes
MELBOURNE – National Australia Bank (NAB) said last week the final remaining remedial actions imposed on it following the A$360 million (US$283 million) FX options scandal had ended.
CME expands options coverage
CHICAGO – The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has expanded the range of European style options it offers on futures contracts. The exchange will now offer these contracts on sterling, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc contracts, adding to the euro and yen…
JP Morgan launches implied volatility indexes
LONDON – JP Morgan has launched indexes tracking the level of G7 and emerging-market implied volatility, which it says will appeal to the wider institutional investor community.
Reuters to deliver algorithmic news
LONDON – Reuters last week launched two products that could help the spread of algorithmic trading, said market participants.
Senior changes at US banks
LONDON & NEW YORK – JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have made senior management changes that will come into effect early next year.
Icap charity day raises £7.1 million
Interdealer broker Icap raised £7.1 million (US$14 million) last Thursday (December 7) in its annual charity day, where all commission on brokerage goes to good causes.
High volatility sparks trading records
LONDON & CHICAGO – High volatility over the past three weeks saw record trading flow transacted across the major trading venues.
Banks team up to launch benchmark currency indexes
LONDON & FRANKFURT – Deutsche Bank, UBS and Barclays Capital have signed up with iBoxx to launch currency indexes that they say will act as an industry-wide benchmark.
Forex fraudster fined $29 million and jailed
WASHINGTON DC & SAN DIEGO – The owner of a forex trading company has been fined $29 million and imprisoned for defrauding.
Reuters cuts EM options brokerage fees in half
LONDON – Reuters' decision to revamp its FX options matching system has increased competition for e-broking of options, with the prospect of slashed brokerage fees.
BoT acts to slow baht
BANGKOK – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) last week introduced further controls to curb the rapid appreciation in the baht.
US options volume may break two billion
Chicago-based Options Industry Council (OIC) has reported both total US options volume and average daily options volume have increased by 36%.
Dresdner lays off prime brokerage staff amid group-wide cutbacks
FRANKFURT & LONDON – Dresdner Kleinwort looks to be scaling back its FX prime brokerage operation, with the departure of PB head Roger Allen and Noel Singh last week.
LiquidityHub hires chief executive, pooling banks' resources
Robert MacLeod has been made chief executive of London-based LiquidityHub, a venture that aims to electronically pool the fixed-income liquidity of 11 investment banks.
SAFE launches FX monitoring software
BEIJING – China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) will launch a new data collection software to monitor its foreign exchange cross border capital flows.
Four more currencies for JP Morgan
JP Morgan has added the forint, Czech koruna, zloty and rand to its electronic interest rate swaps trading platform.
Citigroup launches Islamic finance products in Singapore
SINGAPORE – Citigroup has launched commodity murabaha investments denominated in the US dollar, euro, pound sterling and Singapore dollar.
Deloitte and Touche takes SD-Revaluation
NEW YORK – Consulting firm Deloitte and Touche is using SuperDerivatives' SD-Revaluation service for derivatives when conducting audits for buy-side customers. Deloitte is using the revaluation service for external independent verification of the…
TwoFour connects to FXall
Technology vendor TwoFour Systems last week teamed up with multi-bank portal FXall to offer its clients access to prices directly through its own trading platform.