News
Icap to add trading to i-Swap
LONDON – Faster-than-expected advances in electronic derivatives trading have prompted inter-dealer broker Icap to step up plans to launch its own electronic swaps trading platform.
Reuters sees sales turnaround
LONDON – Reuters chief executive Tom Glocer last week announced the first positive month for sales since May 2001. Speaking at an investor's conference in London, Glocer said sales of the vendor's data and technology products in May 2004 exceeded…
Singapore relaxes restrictions
SINGAPORE – Market participants in Singapore have welcomed a relaxation of restrictions on the Singapore dollar brought in by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
FX Cross sees record trading volumes
LONDON – Citigroup and institutional broker Instinet said last week that record volumes are going through their joint forex matching service.
Consortium tackles broker STP
LONDON – A handful of prominent banks and brokers known as the Trader Notification Service (TNS) Consortium has launched a platform that automates trade notification between its members.
Saxo upgrades support service
COPENHAGEN – Saxo Bank has upgraded support for users of its white-label trading platform SaxoTrader, with a new service to offer advice on website development, advertising, marketing and customer relationship management.
FX Concepts hires in options
NEW YORK – FX Concepts, a New York-based currency manager, has hired two options specialists to enhance its quantitative research, FX options and non-directional strategies management.
ABN adds in hedge fund sales
LONDON – ABN Amro has hired two dealers to its European hedge fund sales team in London.
Citigroup restaffs Singapore sales
SINGAPORE – Citigroup has rehired to fill a void in its Singapore institutional sales team after a team of three defected to Barclays Capital.
EBS launches Aussie and Canadian trading packages
LONDON – Spot broker EBS last week launched new Australian and Canadian dollar packages for its dealing platform in a bid to increase market-share in those currencies.
Brokers react to shrinking market
LONDON – As the dust settles on the news of Collins Stewart Tullett's (CST) imminent takeover of Prebon Yamane, rival brokers are upbeat about their prospects arising from the £135 million deal. The combination of two of the six major broking firms in FX…
Front integrates dt Compass, Arena
STOCKHOLM – Front Capital Systems, the Swedish subsidiary of SunGard, is working with four clients to integrate the recently purchased dt Compass FX options system from Derivatech into its Front Arena trading system.
HSBC wins BMo CLS contract
MONTREAL – Bank of Montreal (BMo) has selected HSBC as its settlement member for the continuous-linked settlement (CLS) service. The deal will bring HSBC another 200,000 FX transactions a year to settle on the New York-based settlement service on behalf…
JP Morgan joins white-label race with Cognotec
NEW YORK – JP Morgan is launching a white-label FX trading platform for its financial institutions clients, using software from vendor Cognotec. The multi-product multi-language service enables the US bank's clients to provide a 24-hour FX service to…
Japan's MoF steers clear of intervention
TOKYO – Japan's Ministry of Finance (MoF) last week revealed it has not intervened in the FX markets since mid-March – and is likely to refrain from further currency intervention for some time, said market participants.
SuperDerivatives storms Singapore
SINGAPORE – SuperDerivatives has signed 10 new contracts in Singapore for its FX option pricing system SD-FX since the beginning of this year.
StanChart hires hedge fund sales chief
SINGAPORE – Standard Chartered in Singapore has hired Michael Drennan as head of global hedge fund sales. The newly created position reflects increased client demand in the sector, said David Carr, global head of sales and e-commerce at StanChart in…
ACI Congress debates future
LONDON – The European forex community gathered in London last week for the ACI European Congress hosted by ACI UK. Among the contentious issues discussed during the three-day event were operational risk, the future of the European Union and trading in…
Collins Stewart to buy Prebon
LONDON – Broker Tullett Liberty’s parent company, Collins Stewart Tullett, is buying rival Prebon Yamane, it confirmed last week. The firm said it does not intend to merge the two brokers, or close any desks as a result of the deal. Instead, each desk…
ABN Amro AM launches new currency products
AMSTERDAM – ABN Amro Asset Management (AAAM) is launching two new currency products for institutional investors and high-net-worth clients.
Westpac makes Singapore inroads
SINGAPORE – Westpac has hired Henry Young as head of Asian institutional FX sales, based in Singapore, as part of an expansion of the bank’s FX business in the region. Young, who starts at the Australian bank in mid-June, joins from Barclays Capital in…
CME and Reuters pool liquidity
LONDON – Trading systems vendor Reuters and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are bringing together their pools of buy-side and sell-side liquidity in what may be the first move towards an exchange model for the FX market.