News
Merrill man takes on NAB's troubled FX group in Sydney
SYDNEY – National Australia Bank has hired Jeff Lee to take on the management of its troubled FX business in Sydney.
Concerted intervention ruled out
FRANKFURT – Despite increasingly vigorous comments from European politicians arguing in favour of stemming the onward rise of the euro, concerted intervention from Europe and the US is extremely unlikely.
Non-US airlines profit from low-flying dollar
NEW YORK – The weak dollar is giving airlines outside the US some relief from the impact of high fuel costs, according to their latest financial results.
Commerz braces for cuts
SINGAPORE – Commerzbank's integration of its investment banking and capital markets units is likely to force some FX job cuts, said a source close to the bank in Singapore.
Trading platforms break records
LONDON – FX trading platforms withstood a massive spike in trading on November 5, as record volumes followed the announcement of better-than-expected US jobs data.
Banks review yuan reval forecasts
BEIJING – Some bank analysts have brought forward their expectations of regime change in the Chinese yuan, following the rate hike by the People's Bank of China late last month.
Bond investors take up currency overlay
LONDON – Currency overlay, which is commonly used by equity investors to manage currency risk and return on their portfolios, is now catching on with bond managers.
Indian bank takes Reuters to process growing FX volumes
MUMBAI – India's Kotak Mahindra Bank has installed Reuters' Trade Processing system at its head-office in Mumbai to manage growing volumes of currency swaps, bullion trades, interest rate swaps, FX option and structured products trading.
European banks' profits slide
LONDON – The huge downward move in the dollar last week came too late to help banks' third-quarter FX trading revenues.
Hantec U-turns on Refco deal
HONG KONG – Hantec Investment Holdings, a Hong Kong-based financial services company, has backtracked on an agreement to discuss licensing investment firm Refco Forex's FX trading system, RefcoFXTrader, less than two months after signing a memorandum of…
Harry Culham joins Dresdner
LONDON – Ex-Merrill Lynch FX chief Harry Culham is joining Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London to take on global FX for the bank, following the departure of Jorge Villon.
European banks' profits slide
LONDON – The huge downward move in the dollar last week came too late to help banks' third-quarter FX trading revenues.
Tech firms spread out
LONDON/NEW YORK – Two FX technology firms have moved into new offices to cope with expanding staff numbers.
Refco chooses RBS as prime broker for FX
NEW YORK – Futures broker Refco Capital Markets (RCM) has dropped Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as its prime broker for foreign exchange in favour of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Prebon to take lead in Asia
SINGAPORE – Prebon Yamane looks set to take the lead in the merger with Tullett Liberty in the Asia-Pacific region, as a result of its strength in emerging markets and options, said local market participants.
BNP Paribas hires head of French sales
PARIS – Thomas Geist has joined BNP Paribas in Paris as head of FX sales to French financial institutions, reporting to Paris-based François Boisson, head of FX sales to financial institutions.
UBS link to Fenics for e-options
NEW YORK – UBS is linking broker and software vendor GFI's Fenics options pricing tool to its trading platform, FX Options Trader.
Investors invited to scale up overlay in Asia
HONG KONG – Investors in Asia could scale up the returns they are currently getting from FX overlay by investing in hedge funds, delegates at the ABN Amro Asia currency conference heard last week.
Bush win prompts dollar sell-off
NEW YORK – The re-election of President George W. Bush last week prompted a dollar sell-off, sending the euro to an all-time high just below 1.30 by close of trading on Friday (November 5).
RBS launches IAS 39 kit for corporate clients
The Royal Bank of Scotland launched a web-based IAS 39 Toolkit last week to help clients with the requirements set out by the IAS 39 accounting standard, which comes into force at the start of 2005.