News
Koram takes merger lead
SEOUL – Koram Bank's senior executives are taking the top positions in the merged FX group formed by Citigroup's purchase of the Korean bank, which starts trading as one entity on November 1.
Q3 hits earnings but Q4 sees pick-up
NEW YORK – All major US commercial banks have now reported their third-quarter results, confirming poor trading conditions have hit returns for FX.
Chinese currency to rise by 25% against dollar
LONDON – China's currency is up to one quarter below its true value and a significant adjustment on the forex market is inevitable.
Icap launches JV in Korea
SEOUL – KIDB-Icap, a joint venture between global inter-dealer broker Icap and Korean inter-dealer broker KIDB, has begun broking FX and interest rate derivatives in Seoul. The move takes place following the green light for the venture from the Ministry…
Reuters to build Chinese FX platform
SHANGHAI – The China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), a subsidiary of the People's Bank of China, has signed up Reuters to develop a global foreign exchange trading system for it and its member banks.
Reuters outage spells pricing void
LONDON - The pitfalls of relying on electronic systems was made clear to FX traders last week, as a power outage at Reuters' technical centre left them without pricing in European currencies for seven hours. The outage, which began at 2.34pm in London (9…
Lava launches FX platform
NEW YORK – Lava Trading, the US-based equities technology firm Citigroup bought last month, has launched a foreign exchange trading platform called LavaFX.
US banks hit by flat trading
New York – Poor market conditions have led to a sharp fall-off in FX revenues for some US banks, but others managed to post increased returns in the third quarter.
Reech forecasts growth in demand from hedge funds
LONDON – SunGard Reech expects to see a growth in demand from hedge funds for its stochastic volatility model, Real Stochvol, as more people seek to invest in hedge funds, said Christophe Reech, chief executive of the SunGard unit.
Swapstream names new chief executive
LONDON – Swapstream, a medium- and long-term interest rate swaps trading platform, has made Stéphane Rio chief executive, based in London. Rio previously headed rates trading at Commerzbank in London for five years, and replaces Marcus Grubb, who left…
SuperD adds 14 in global sales
LONDON – Super Derivatives has taken on 14 sales and support staff, as it tries to expand its coverage in the foreign exchange market and break into other asset classes.
Trading places
Calyon hires EM dealer
Indian forex settlement service joins CLS
MUMBAI – Indian FX settlement service the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL) will go live on CLS on October 23.
Deutsche gets China FX derivatives licence
Deutsche Bank has become the latest foreign bank in China licensed to trade onshore currency derivatives. An un-named Deutsche Bank official in Singapore said the China Banking Regulatory Commission gave the German bank the go-ahead last week.
US banks hit by flat trading
New York – Poor market conditions have led to a sharp fall-off in FX revenues for some US banks, but others managed to post increased returns in the third quarter.
FX chief joins Pru exit queue
LONDON – The departure of Howard Carr, head of FX and commodities at Prudential Bache in London, has sparked fears for the future of the bank's FX desk in the city.
Special Feature - CLS settlement: the next two years
As CLS enters its third year, Joseph De Feo discusses plans for expansion Two years ago, the CLS Group launched the world's first global settlement service for foreign exchange trades. Following several other aborted efforts to tackle Herstatt, or…
BNP expands institutional forex
LONDON/NY – BNP Paribas has hired three institutional FX sales dealers in London and New York in the past month as the bank continues to develop coverage for this growing client sector.
GFI launches new FX option data service
NEW YORK – Broker and market data firm GFI Group has launched a new currency options historical data service for quantitative experts, risk managers and middle-office employees at banks active in the FX markets.
Alex Mann adds to FX search team
LONDON – Recruitment firm Alexander Mann has expanded its FX search team, with the appointment of Tony Marshall as head of UK and European capital markets from rival AT Kearney. His appointment follows the August hire of Shani Shamah as a director in…
Bear expands EM trading
LONDON – Bear Stearns is expanding its European emerging markets trading desk in London with two new hires from Calyon and two more planned additions in the new year.
Margin squeeze benefits Japan derivatives dealers
TOKYO – Derivatives dealers in Japan are in demand, as spread compression in vanilla FX has prompted foreign banks to look elsewhere for margin.