Trading
Hotspot FX hires Asia sales head
SINGAPORE - Hotspot FX has appointed Trent Beacroft as head of Asia sales in Singapore.
BNP and Deutsche give homes to Lehman staff
LONDON - Not all Lehman Brothers' refugees have ended up at Nomura - BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank have also stepped in to make hires.
Opportunity no longer knocks
The past week has highlighted what a questionable time it is for the industry
FX traders exercise caution
GLOBAL - Traders worldwide continue to avoid dealing with each other, despite co-ordinated efforts by global central banks to ease the turmoil in the financial market through rate cuts and fund injections.
A delicate phase for the euro
Audrey Childe-Freeman, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York, evaluates the prospects for the euro
Japan traders dump short yen positions
TOKYO - Japanese retail foreign exchange margin traders abandoned $16 billion worth of short yen positions within days last week, in a scramble to limit losses from unwinding carry trades.
Colombia fruitful for Citi settlement
BOGOTA & NEW YORK - Citi's Colombia-based domestic settlement service began settling more than $1.3 billion in FX trades daily in September, representing in excess of 80% of the Colombian wholesale FX market.
Strike while the iron is hot
Pete Luxton, economic adviser, and Shant Movsesian, manager, foreign exchange options, at Informa Global Markets in London suggest a basket strategy to play euro weakness
Asia's tigers show their stripes
For Nick Chamie, head of emerging markets research at RBC Dominion Securities in Toronto, memories of Asia's 1997 meltdown are resurfacing as concern grows in the region
JSE trades first $20m options contract
JOHANNESBURG - The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has traded its first currency options contract with a notional value of $20 million.
JDFX gets smart with Kontrol
ZURICH - Foreign exchange trading company JDFX has capitalised on an increasing focus on risk management within financial markets by launching Kontrol, a system built to eliminate inefficiencies and dangers caused by calculating risk several times a day…
Króna in chaos during Iceland's meltdown
REYKJAVIK - Confusion reigned in Icelandic króna trading last week, as the country's central bank, Sedlabanki, abandoned its peg to a basket of nine currencies a day after it was effected.
Baxter enters algo execution
NEW YORK - Baxter Financial Services will add algorithmic execution features over its electronic communications network (ECN) Baxter FX by the end of the year.
Korea's KEB begins trading on EBS
SEOUL - Interdealer broker Icap is deepening its footprint in the emerging markets, with Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) now using its spot-broking system, EBS.
RealStream Margin revamped
LONDON - Cognotec is set to roll out the latest version of its web-based margin trading system, RealStream Margin 3.0, in response to market demand for efficiency and enhanced risk management products.
ICE launches FX futures
ATLANTA - The Intercontinental-Exchange (ICE) is launching ICE Millions, a suite of foreign exchange futures contracts, on November 6, in the latest move by an exchange to capitalise on fears over counterparty credit risk.
Saxo Bank aces as US dollar rallies
Saxo Bank topped this week's three-month currency forecast rankings with expectations the dollar would stage a comeback based on improved US balance of trade.
FXMarketSpace abandoned
CHICAGO & LONDON - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Thomson Reuters have confirmed their joint venture platform FXMarketSpace will be shut down, ending speculation over the system's future.
CME outsources E-quotes data app to CVS
CHICAGO - CME Group has rolled out a new version of its web-based E-quotes data display application and wireless add-on - built and hosted by technology partner Computer Voice Systems (CVS) -which incorporates data from acquisitions the Chicago Board of…
Korea delays liberalisation
SEOUL - South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance is considering delaying the liberalisation of the country's foreign exchange market, due to current global market volatility.
Icap spot forex surges 60% after Lehman Brothers collapses
LONDON - Spot foreign exchange volumes at Icap skyrocketed by more than 60% on September 15 and 16, days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Another FX trader fined
STOCKHOLM - Sweden's financial regulator has imposed a maximum penalty on Forex Bank for insufficient money laundering controls, signalling a global clampdown by regulators on risk management failings at retail foreign exchange institutions.
Cutting costs
Pat Lefler, director, product marketing, at Wall Street Systems in New York, looks at ways smaller banks could reduce their trade-processing costs and remain competitive