Derivatives
Banks and hedge funds spur growth in OIS trading
LONDON & NEW YORK - Central bank activity has contributed towards a surge in trading overnight index swaps (OIS) over the past year, according to dealers.
Automated FX trading models provide diversified alpha
David Popplewell, director of currency structuring at RBS in London, says to look beyond carry baskets and actively managed foreign exchange allocation to generate alpha from FX
BoA hires London forex duo
LONDON - Bank of America (BoA) is hitting back after making severe cuts to its foreign exchange team in January by boosting its sales and trading franchise in London with two senior hires.
Indian banks demand clarity on forex tax
MUMBAI – Institutional banks in India are requesting clarification from the country’s Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) over whether a new levy on foreign exchange transactions applies to wholesale and interbank trades.
Death by association
The application of credit technology to diverse underlyings led to the birth of collateralised foreign exchange obligations in 2006. But despite being built from uncorrelated underlyings, their fortunes have proven highly correlated with the wider market…
StanChart moves Africa FX team to Dubai hub
LONDON & DUBAI - Standard Chartered is moving its offshore African foreign exchange trading desk from London to Dubai, as it continues to build operations in the Middle East.
CBA reshuffles forex
SYDNEY - The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has made two key hires for its foreign exchange trading team in Sydney and has restructured its global sales group.
Czech forex volumes double in six months
PRAGUE - The credit crisis led to a sharp rise in Czech koruna forwards and foreign exchange swaps volumes in April, according to statistics released last week.
Record FX returns no compensation for continuing subprime losses
BOSTON & NEW YORK - Record foreign exchange revenues have proved no match for the credit crisis, with billion-dollar writedowns causing two major banks to report big first-quarter losses in their fixed-income divisions this week.
Yen rise triggers PRDC hedging
TOKYO - The sharp appreciation of the yen in March has left dealers jostling to hedge exposures to power-reverse dual currency notes (PRDCs) and other similar structured products.
US trading revenues plummet in 2007
NEW YORK - US commercial banks recorded $5.5 billion in trading revenues in 2007, down $13.3 billion from the record of $18.8 billion set in 2006, according to a report published by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week (April 2).
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).
Choosing the right carry strategy
Nikki Marmery reports on the proliferation of carry trade indexes and outlines the key differences between the main banks' offerings
London still top of the forex markets
LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO & SINGAPORE - London holds firm as the leader of the foreign exchange world, as year-on-year forex growth in the UK continues to outstrip that of the US, according to the latest figures released by regional trade bodies.
Seeking a sterling collapse
By Pete Luxton, global markets adviser, and Dave Willmer, foreign exchange options market strategist, at Informa Global Markets in London
Reduced growth will fuel FX competition
As the market gears up for a fresh year of activity, Patrick Lefler, FX consultant at Wall Street Systems, predicts the key FX market developments in 2008
FX adds shine to banks' Q4 results
BOSTON & NEW YORK - State Street's acquisition of Currenex led the US bank to a strong 2007 fourth-quarter performance, despite the year's subprime woes.
Banks brace for algo trading boom in 2008
As the industry continues to digest the credit market's meltdown, foreign exchange trading volumes continue to boom. Representatives of the major FX banks, Credit Suisse, HSBC and Saxo Bank, discuss the main technology trends in e-FX trading to watch in…
Short-dated RMB forwards curve widens
HONG KONG - Short-term renminbi non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) will remain priced higher than onshore forwards into year end, as a US dollar liquidity squeeze causes onshore market participants to hold onto the greenback, say analysts.
CLS launches NDF settlement
LONDON - ABN Amro, Credit Suisse, Fortis, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland became the first settlement banks to go live with non-deliverable for-wards settlement over settlement system CLS last week.
VAR exceptions rise in third quarter
NEW YORK & ZURICH - Volatility in financial markets led investment banks to far exceed thresholds for trading losses in the third quarter, casting doubt on their risk modelling.
New Deutsche indexes map currency correlation in Asia
SINGAPORE - Deutsche Bank has launched a set of indexes designed to capture returns generated by the apparent growing co-ordination of currency policy among Asian central banks.
More forex departures at Bank of America
YORK - Further changes at Bank of America's foreign exchange business have emerged as the US dealer realigns FX with its rates business.