News
HSBC Asia team set to grow
HONG KONG – HSBC Asia is looking to increase its FX derivatives and sales headcount over the next two years, a senior bank official told FX Week, but FX trading teams are likely to remain static.
CMC starts trading in the US
NEW YORK – UK online forex trading firm CMC Group started trading in the US last week.
Rupee options launch today
MUMBAI – Banks in India can start trading rupee/foreign currency options today, following the lifting of restrictions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Dollar still top currency for central banks
LONDON – Market speculation that central banks began rebalancing their reserves away from the dollar last year was misled, according to the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) annual report released last week.
Euro rise helps fund managers perform
STAMFORD, CT – The continued strength of the euro helped most currency managers on the Parker Global Strategies FX Index record positive returns in May, Parker announced last week.
Danske rebuilds FX in London
LONDON – Danske Bank will complete the rebuilding of its FX sales business in London next week with three new additions, a senior official at the bank told FX Week.
HK’s FX clearing needs improvement – IMF
HONG KONG – Foreign exchange clearing supervision in Hong Kong needs to be improved, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a report published in late June, the IMF said although payments systems in the Special Administrative Region (SAR)…
King replaces George at BoE
LONDON – Mervyn King took over as governor of the Bank of England last Tuesday (July 1), following the retirement of former governor Edward George.
DrKW adds TraderMade to Piranha
LONDON – Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has added UK vendor TraderMade’s real-time charting to its online FX trading platform Piranha.
EBS makes spot sterling drive
LONDON – Spot broker EBS last week made a bid for market-share in the sterling market – the acknowledged gap in its coverage of major currencies.
eSpeed files patent suit
NEW YORK – eSpeed attempted to deal arch rival Icap a crushing blow last week by filing a suit in a US court accusing Icap’s newly acquired BrokerTec inter-dealer bond platform of infringing upon its ‘automated auction protocol processor’ patent.
Treasury management systems’ lack of STP may stall uptake
NEW YORK – Lack of straight-through processing (STP) ability may have slowed the uptake of FX and treasury management systems (TMSs), according to a report made public last week.
EasyScreen adds FX trading with SEB streaming prices
LONDON – London-based trading software vendor EasyScreen will add FX trading to its Data Centre trading platform over the coming months, using streaming prices from the London-based merchant banking division of Swedish bank SEB.
RBS hires in NY and Boston
NEW YORK – Kenneth Wiseman has joined the Royal Bank of Scotland in New York as an FX sales dealer, a senior official at the bank told FX Week.
Rupee options launch today
MUMBAI – Banks in India can start trading rupee/foreign currency options today, following the lifting of restrictions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Technology staff on the move
LONDON -- The market for technology specialists in the forex sector is looking vibrant, with a number of people on the move last week.
Fed cut boosts dollar, but doubts remain
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Federal Reserve’s 25 basis point interest rate cut last week did little to excite the FX markets, and analysts said the US currency could be entering a period of consolidation.
Bloomberg to launch new instant messaging service
NEW YORK -- US information and trading technology firm Bloomberg is launching an instant messaging service in July, in a bid to retain customers. The service, called Instant Bloomberg, is in addition to the widely used Bloomberg Messaging service but has…
US investment banks’ revenues soar on back of investor demand
NEW YORK -- Strong investor demand is driving US investment banks’ fixed-income and forex revenues sky-high, according to first-half results released last week.
AIGforex under merger threat
GREENWICH, CT -- AIG Trading’s FX group faces an uncertain future as parent company Connecticut-based American Insurance Group (AIG) prepares to merge its AIG Trading and AIG Financial Products subsidiaries, sources close to the firm told FX Week .