News
US and UK regulators sign MoU to improve market surveillance
LONDON & WASHINGTON DC – The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen market communication oversight last week.
EBS credited for 75% rise in e-broking revenues at Icap
LONDON – Spot broker EBS was largely behind a 75% rise in second-half electronic broking revenues at interdealer broker Icap, the broker said last week.
ISE prepares FX options launch
NEW YORK – The International Securities Exchange (ISE) has begun publishing the underlying rates for its new ISE FX options, in preparation for launch next year.
Dow Jones launches daily report
NEW YORK – Dow Jones Newswires last week announced the launch of Tomorrow's News Today , a daily wrap-up of FX, fixed income and money markets.
BarCap joins LiquidityHub
NEW YORK – Barclays Capital (BarCap) has joined the LiquidityHub bank consortium, which plans to aggregate liquidity and market data for electronic trading, for their clients.
Citi forms FICC group
NEW YORK – Citigroup has merged its global fixed income and emerging markets businesses to establish a new global fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) group.
Relief for traders as volatility returns
LONDON – Last week saw unexpectedly large moves in the dollar/yen and euro/dollar as traders welcomed a pre-Christmas build-up in volatility after a year of flat markets.
The carry trade shows best returns
LONDON – Carry trading can still produce positive returns, but trend trading models are losing ground, Citigroup's risk advisory group director, Jessica James told the FX Week Europe Congress.
EBS and Reuters pool resources for BoE
LONDON – Rival brokers EBS and Reuters are pooling resources to launch a new benchmark page for spot FX price fixings, to replace data currently provided by the Bank of England (BoE).
Icap pushes into options
LONDON – Icap plans to launch non-deliverable forwards and develop an electronic FX options trading platform, CEO Michael Spencer told the FX Week annual congress in his keynote address.
Asia to support global growth
LONDON – Asia holds the key to global growth amid a US slowdown, Marios Maratheftis, FX strategist at Standard Chartered in London told delegates at last week's FX Week Europe Congress.
NFA expels Spencer Financial
NEW YORK – The National Futures Association (NFA) has expelled forex dealer member Spencer Financial from NFA membership following its failure to implement an adequate anti-money laundering regime.
Sovereign Bank live on Sierra platform
PHILADELPHIA – Sovereign Bank is using an FNX Solutions web-based Sierra platform for the its FX operations, the treasury and capital markets technology provider announced last week.
CME expands its London business
LONDON – Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is set to move to larger London premises and will share with subsidiary interest rate swaps platform Swapstream and FXMarketSpace, its joint venture with Reuters.
JP Morgan surprised by Puth's departure
NEW YORK – David Puth, head of global currencies and commodities at JP Morgan, has quit the US investment bank. Senior executives at JP Morgan said they were "very surprised" by his departure.
FXPB: a growing divide
LONDON – Foreign exchange prime brokers (FXPB) have started to split into full-service providers and those targeting niche markets, according to panelists at the FX Week Europe Congress last week.
EBS/FXMarketSpace rivalry heats up
LONDON – The standoff between newcomer FXMarketSpace and incumbent platform EBS revved up last week, with EBS claiming the former will favour Chicago-based users.
Malaysia sets up payment-versus-payment system
HONG KONG & KUALA LUMPUR – The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Malaysia's central bank (Bank Negara Malaysia) launched a cross-border payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement system last week.
City bonuses rise by a quarter
LONDON – Just under half of city workers expect a 25% rise in bonuses this year, according to survey results released last week.
Low volatility has affected the market, says Calyon's Lefort
LONDON – The major market event in 2006 has been low volatility, and new products have had to be developed to deal with it, said Christine Lefort, Calyon's global head of FX structuring.
Gain wins court approval to acquire Refco assets
BEDMINSTER, NEW JERSEY – Gain Capital has won bankruptcy court approval to buy the retail customer account information and marketing list of Refco F/X Associates. The deal ends six months of volatile negotiations between the two companies.