Articles by Robert Mackenzie Smith
CME forex trading booms but clearing remains slow
CME Group has boasted record FX volumes in recent months and is preparing to launch its London-based derivatives exchange in September, but take-up of its OTC FX clearing services remains slow. Derek Sammann, CME’s head of FX and rates, tells Robert…
FX agency model under threat from CFTC business conduct rules
Uncertainty around the scope of the relief granted by an April 30 no-action letter has led prime brokers to limit their executing brokers to principals for non-spot transactions, threatening the agency model in the US
BNP Paribas loses spot trader
Trader exits in London after less than two years
Goldman Sachs loses in FX sales
Marc Nicolas has left the FX bank sales team in London after more than 12 years
Nomura hires senior FX trader in New York
James Lanzilotti has joined the Japanese bank from Credit Suisse
SurfacExchange business development manager exits
Lina Zilenaite has joined Louis Capital Markets in London
CLS membership will allow more ‘flexibility’, says Natixis
Natixis became a full settlement member in May, as CLS continues its mission to expand the use of the central settlement risk mitigation utility
Deutsche’s Jason Shell takes sabbatical
David Wayne is relocating to New York to head FX in North America, while also retaining his current role as head of FX derivatives
BNP Paribas beefs up client clearing team
The French bank has made seven new hires to build out its new derivatives client clearing business, including three from JP Morgan
Ex-JP Morgan algo head joins BAML
Alex Shterenberg joins Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York after six years with JP Morgan
Crédit Agricole hires in central bank FX sales
Former FX sales director at Barclays and Deutsche Bank has joined the French bank in London
Buy-side vendor Charles River taps 360T for FX
360T to connect Charles River to FX dealers and regional banks, removing the manual processes currently required to trade currencies through its investment management platform
Belief in euro keeps Bank of Montreal on top
The Canadian bank outlines its long-term forecasting strategy as maintains its place at the top of the 12-month tables
FX prime brokers forced to terminate double give-up trades
Prime brokers have had to cancel four-way agreements for trades involving two buy-side firms, on the basis that a no-action letter issued by the CFTC on April 30 did not cover this type of business
Consensus lacking on optimal length for randomised pause
The concept of applying a randomised pause to FX trades as a means of deterring disruptive behaviour has garnered support from the users of both EBS and ParFX. But how long should the pause be in order to be effective but not damaging to genuine…
Fair Trading Technology appoints four board members
Singh, Maasland, Vollemaere and Pounds join board of retail trading technology company
Hedge fund sales head to leave Commerz
Mark Cudmore will leave the German bank at the end of August, after two years in the role
Neill Penney joins Thomson Reuters under Weisberg
Morgan Stanley's former head of FX product strategy joined Thomson Reuters yesterday, where he will be working once again for Phil Weisberg
China's red tape reduction could lead to wider CNY trade band
Chinese regulator Safe's efforts to simplify investment into the country seen as a further sign of renminbi liberalisation
Westpac partners with Broadway Technology for aggregated solution
Australian bank replaces in-house aggregation tool with a white-label offering to increase capacity
Hotspot reduces 'last look' response time by 100 milliseconds
Although the platform reports the cut has already had a positive effect, dealers working outside Hotspot's base in New York could experience latency issues
Bloomberg takes aim at Thomson Reuters Dealing
Bloomberg's chat-based FX trading tool, Instant Bloomberg Dealing, starting to rival Thomson Reuters' offering
BMO expands FX business with four global hires
Canadian bank makes two senior strategy hires from Citi and Crédit Agricole, and expands FX sales team
Barclays rises as BoJ sends yen plummeting
UK bank wins in FX Week's one-month rankings after forecasting continued yen weakness in April