Trading
HotspotFX in white-label talks for retail offer
JERSEY CITY - HotspotFX is in talks with an undisclosed number of banks for the use of its retail electronic communications network (ECN) platform, HotspotFXr, following a global rollout of the platform at the beginning of this year.
Baht convergence limited
BANGKOK - The convergence of onshore and offshore baht trading may be short-lived, as new capital controls come into force on Saturday (March 15), say some analysts.
Flow data forecasts success for banks
Banks made a near clean sweep of this week's top forecast rankings, but said access to flow data is only of short-term help in the currency forecasting game.
January loss for Parker FX
STAMFORD, CT - The Parker FX index produced a 0.33% loss in January, as extreme volatility hit funds using trend-following strategies.
Trend strategies pay off in February
LONDON - Currency managers running trend strategies were the top performers in February, according to research by ABN Amro.
FX supports profits at HSBC
LONDON - The global banking and markets business at HSBC reported pre-tax profits up 5% to $6.1 billion for 2007, despite severe disruption in the global credit markets.
Merrill Lynch reshuffles EMEA FICC
LONDON & NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch named David Gu sole head of Europe, Middle East and Africa fixed-income currencies and commodities (EMEA FICC) in London last week, after the resignation of co-head Dimitrios Psyllidis.
BNP names global options chief
LONDON & SINGAPORE - Simon Nursey has been appointed as BNP Paribas's global head of foreign exchange options trading, effective last Monday (March 3).
Eurobase Siena launches liquidity aggregation tool
LONDON - Eurobase Banking Solutions will offer a liquidity aggregation module later this month, in response to customer demand.
EBS's February volumes eclipse 2007 levels
Last month's average daily volume of spot FX traded on Icap's electronic spot broking platform EBS Spot increased 34% on February 2007, to $217.2 billion. The interdealer broker reported average daily spot FX trading was also up 32% for the year ending…
Central bank intervention remains unlikely
LONDON, FRANKFURT & NEW YORK - Unless chaos reigns, analysts deem central bank intervention in the currency markets unlikely.
StanChart gets a FIX
Standard Chartered last week announced that it has developed a FIX application programming interface (API) to trade over its single-bank platform.
Bank of Thailand lifts capital controls
BANGKOK - The Bank of Thailand is today (March 3) lifting controversial capital controls aimed at curbing inflows of hot money and a surging baht, 15 months after introducing the rules.
New options classes for latest Fenics release
LONDON - Seven new option classes are being added to the latest version of GFI Group's Fenics, an FX options pricing, risk management and trading tool.
Split euro personalities
Simon Derrick, head of currency research at Bank of New York Mellon, investigates the causes of a geographical split in investor behaviour within the eurozone
Bailey named Newedge's deputy global head of FX
NEW YORK & LONDON - Michael Bailey, head of European FX for institutional brokerage Newedge in London, has been given the additional role of deputy global head of FX.
Citi and Wegelin team up to launch new forex portfolio
LONDON & ST GALLEN - Citi and Swiss private bank Wegelin Asset Management launched the Citi Wegelin Active Currencies portfolio last Tuesday (February 26), an investable portfolio based on six systematic FX strategies.
South Korea interbank FX volumes shoot up
SEOUL - Average daily volumes in South Korea's interbank FX market rose to $19.71 billion in 2007, up from $11.8 billion a year earlier, according to official statistics released last week.
ABN targets retail investors
DUBAI - ABN Amro has launched the Bric Infrastructure, Water and FX capital-protected note, targeted at retail investors globally.
MF Global loses $141.5m from rogue wheat trade
NEW YORK - Interdealer broker MF Global has lost $141.5 million after it was forced to cover trading losses made by one of its employees.
EBS Spot aims for NDF supremacy
LONDON - The battle to gain market share in electronic non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) broking is gathering pace, with the launch of seven Asian NDFs and Russian rouble trading on electronic spot broking system EBS Spot today (March 3).
Good news puts CMC top with stable yen view
Expectations of a re-emergence in risk appetite generated a yen forecast that lifted CMC Markets to the top of the three-month currency forecast rankings.
Forex delivers for StanChart and RBS
LONDON - Income from FX helped Standard Chartered boost profits to a record high, as British banks announced full-year results tempered by exposure to subprime investments.