News
ABN hires Italian chief
LONDON – ABN Amro has hired Alberto Matta for a newly created role as head of financial markets and public sector (Fips) distribution for Italy.
Forex TV moves to Nymex trading floor
NEW YORK – Forex Television is this month moving to a trading floor in the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) building. The trading floor will be operated by sister firm e-FX Trader, which was set up in March to offer trading services in conjunction…
Baltics, Slovenia set for early euro adoption
LONDON – Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia are likely to be the first of the new European Union member states to adopt the euro, Fitch Ratings said last week.
LavaFX on track despite Citi deal
NEW YORK – Citigroup’s planned acquisition of securities trading vendor Lava Trading will not alter the New-York based firm’s plans to launch LavaFX, a multi-bank FX trading platform, next month, a Lava spokesperson told FX Week.
Rupiah vol ahead as elections continue
JAKARTA – The Indonesian rupiah continued to rise last week, hitting 9,000 against the dollar following a smooth first round to the country’s first-ever presidential elections. But market participants are wary of the medium-term outlook as the country…
International Assets buys Global Currencies
FLORIDA – International Assets Holding Corporation (Intl), an emerging market-focused financial services company, last week (July 7) purchased the FX operations of UK-based Global Currencies for $2.4 million. The payment comprised $1 million cash plus…
Brokertalk to bring chat back to the market
LONDON – A group of former investment bankers, asset managers and fixed-income traders has launched a news service to provide traders with a view of market activity they feel has been lost in the age of e-trading. Brokertalk launched last week (July 5)…
Rivals gear up for FX clearing
LONDON – The stage is set for a central counterparty clearing (CCP) system for FX as two potential providers moved their plans forward last week.
FNX licenses derivatives analytics
Philadelphia – Treasury management system vendor FNX is adding to the derivatives analytics on its Sierra platform with models from US banking software vendor Suite.
Funds struggle as dollar swings
STAMFORD, CT – Currency funds struggled to make positive returns in May, according to the Parker FX Index, which was down 1.65% for the month. Only 13 of the 52 reporting funds achieved profits in a month when the dollar strengthened to 1.1822 against…
Korean CLS utility opts for PAYplus
The utility through which Korean banks will use the continuous linked settlement (CLS) service for FX, has selected vendor Fundtech’s PAYplus as its core application, it said last week.
AIG restaffs FX post-merger
LONDON – Banque AIG, a subsidiary of AIG Financial Products, has hired six sales and trading specialists in a bid to upgrade the FX component of its cross-product service.
Hotspot adds market makers
NEW JERSEY – Hotspot FXi has added six banks to its institutional trading marketplace to act as market makers and prime brokers. BNP Paribas, HSBC, HVB Group, Société Générale (SG) and WestLB are now all live on the platform providing streamed prices to…
Refco buys stake in ACM
GENEVA – US brokerage Refco Group bought a majority stake in online FX trading firm AC Markets (ACM) for an undisclosed sum last week. The cash purchase was completed on June 29.
SuperDerivatives a hit in Greece
ATHENS – SuperDerivatives is making headway in Greece, with four new customers for its forex options pricing system SD-FX over recent months, the firm said last week.
SG adds again in German sales
LONDON – Roman Stauss joined SG Corporate & Investment Bank (SG CIB) in London on June 28 as an FX sales dealer covering German and Austrian corporate clients. He reports to Jean-Philippe Castellani, London-based deputy head of FX sales for Europe, and…
RBC adds for institutional sales
TORONTO – Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets has hired two FX sales dealers in New York and relocated a third to Sydney.
BarCap builds Asia-Pacific FX
SINGAPORE – Barclays Capital is building its corporate and bank FX sales coverage in Asia Pacific under new corporate FX chief for the region Lutfey Siddiqi.
ABN Amro signs half CCIL’s members for CLS
MUMBAI – More than half of the 60+ members of Indian forex settlement service the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL) will use ABN Amro as their provider for continuous linked settlement (CLS), the Dutch bank said last week.
RBS migrates FXstream to Caplin
LONDON – The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has started using technology from UK vendor Caplin Systems to bring real-time connectivity to its internet-based forex trading platform FXstream.
"What is risk management?" ask Risk USA speakers
BOSTON – The way banks and other financial institutions think about – and sometimes misinterpret – risk management formed the main theme of the opening keynote speeches at FX Week sister publication Risk 's USA conference held last week.