Tech and data
Chicago's wind of change
Felix Shipkevich, general counsel at CMS Forex in New York, highlights the difficulties of applying similar regulations to retail foreign exchange and the exchange-based commodities and futures markets
UniCredit set to launch new FX trading platform
MILAN & LONDON - UniCredit is deploying Caplin Trader and Reuters Electronic Trading - Automated Dealing (RET-AD) as the basis for its single-bank foreign exchange trading platform.
Clients switch on to Portware FX
NEW YORK - Portware has seen a 70% increase in clients using Portware FX, its real-time foreign exchange aggregation system, since the start of 2008, according to Harrell Smith, head of product strategy for the firm in New York.
Thomson adds Icap tick data
JERSEY CITY & LONDON - Interdealer broker Icap is making historical tick data for foreign exchange, fixed-income and interest rate products available through Thomson Reuters, in a bid to broaden its client base among algorithmic trading, valuation and…
WestLB drops RealStream
DÜSSELDORF - WestLB is no longer using Cognotec's RealStream Manager and has signed up to Eurobase's Siena Gateway, in a move to streamline its electronic foreign exchange infrastructure.
Value managers come up trumps in October
LONDON - Currency managers using the value strategy are likely to have fared well in October, a month described as one of the most volatile in history, according to research by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
StatPro chooses GFI for options data
LONDON - StatPro, a London-based vendor of analytics and data systems for the asset management industry, has signed a contract to use GFI's foreign exchange options data in its pricing and risk management services.
StanChart revamps e-pricing
SINGAPORE - Standard Chartered has gone live with a liquidity aggregator developed for its foreign exchange electronic pricing and trading division in Singapore.
Harsh climate suits Aus FX
SYDNEY - Australian foreign exchange dealers expect to continue benefiting from increased deleveraging and client hedging activities seen since September.
AthenaTrader 4.2 features more FX tools
NEW YORK - Custom trading and testing software vendor Aegisoft will add new tools to the next release of AthenaTrader, aimed at giving the end user greater control of foreign exchange trades.
Monier: Markets feel structural shift
SINGAPORE - "We might be entering more of a structural shift than just another crisis," said Stephane Monier, global head of fixed income and currencies at Fortis Investments, at the FX Week Asia Congress last week.
A return to vanilla
GLOBAL - Banks are preparing for a vanilla year next year in the derivatives market, as investors seek transparent structures in an environment of heightened volatility and inconsistent liquidity.
Ex-Lehman staff form action group
LONDON - A group of around 30 former Lehman Brothers employees in London have formed an action group seeking to win compensation from the collapsed US investment bank.
BoNY signs up to GFI's Fenics FX
NEW YORK - Bank of New York Mellon has signed a three-year licence for GFI Fenics FX, a pricing and risk management software system.
Wall St Systems launches ESN
LONDON & PARIS - Wall Street Systems is in discussion with a Tier II and two Tier III US banks for use of its pay-as-you-go post-trade processing utility, Electronic Settlement Network (ESN).
Icap gains foothold in China
BEIJING - Icap has cast a wider net into the Chinese foreign exchange market by forming a strategic partnership with the country's largest data and information vendor, Xinhua News Agency.
City Index drops three in London
LONDON - Retail trading company City Index laid off three foreign exchange staff from its margin FX provider, IFX Markets, in London last Thursday (October 16), as it integrates the FX business with recently acquired FX Solutions.
BarCap picks Caplin for rates
LONDON - Barclays Capital has signed a contract to purchase web-based application Caplin Trader for its fixed-income electronic commerce system.
Interbank lending eases further
LONDON - The Ted spread, along with overnight and three-month Libor, fell for the fourth day in succession after European governments announced bail-out packages on Monday (October 13), and the US followed suit on Tuesday.
Opportunity no longer knocks
The past week has highlighted what a questionable time it is for the industry