News
Structuring trend deepens
LONDON -- More banks are hiring dedicated structuring specialists in a drive to sell FX as part of their financial markets package. Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, SG and UBS Warburg are among the banks that have hired staff in the…
Market awaits Japan loan package
TOKYO -- Japanese yen trading was mixed last week after authorities delayed the publication of a report on measures to address the problem of Japanese banks' bad loans.
Market mulls options benchmark
LONDON -- Standard FX options benchmark prices could be the answer to inaccuracies in marking exposures to market, but whether the move is possible is a matter for debate, according to senior options market participants.
Tech briefs
SG launches e-MM
Asian currencies stable following Bali attacks
JAKARTA -- Fears of a renewed period of currency instability in South East Asia following the October 12 terrorist attacks in Bali eased as the rupiah stabilised last week. The world's second best performing currency this year bounced back after hitting…
Funds step up online FX trading
NEW YORK -- Fund managers are trading more foreign exchange online, according to numbers released by multi-bank portal FXall last week. The client sector now accounts for one quarter of trades by volume on FXall, up from 7% at its launch in May 2001.
Trading places
Merrill hires in Italian sales
HSBC wins Asian forex derivatives award
HONG KONG -- HSBC was named 'Forex Derivatives House of the Year' in FX Week sister magazine AsiaRisk's 2002 awards, published this month.
De Vries takes on global FX for ING Financial Markets
LONDON -- Ted de Vries, Amsterdam-based global head of ING Financial Markets, has taken over direct responsibility for global FX, the bank said last week.
Bloomberg's e-forwards debut
NEW YORK -- Bloomberg has completed the rollout of its PowerMatch FX interbank platform for forward swaps, it announced last week.
Deutsche Bank reveals role in providing 9/11 liquidity
PARIS -- Michael Reuther, global head of funding at Deutsche Bank, revealed last week how the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York created an emergency E50 billion 'synthetic' liquidity facility in the wake of last year's World…
e-Mid targets electronic settlement of MM trades
MILAN -- e-Mid, a provider of electronic markets for treasury products, aims to reduce money markets settlement risk on its platforms by automating the process, according to an official at the firm in Milan.
DrKW reorganises capital markets
LONDON -- Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has appointed Achilles Macris and Erich Pohl as global co-heads of its capital markets operation in London, the bank announced last week.
Citigroup defies downturn
Top player’s revenues up again as gap widens between the best and the rest
Sterling: the big-picture view
The UK economy is looking increasingly like Cinderella among the ugly sisters of Japan, Europe and the US, says David Bloom, currency strategist at HSBCin London
Merrill ousts derivatives head
LONDON -- Merrill Lynch has ousted its European head of fixed income and FX derivatives, Kevin Chattwell, as part of the US investment bank's efforts to flatten its senior management structure.
Barclays bolsters global line-up with 10th new recruit this year
LONDON -- The wholesale expansion of Barclays Capital's forex group continued last week with the hire of a new global head of foreign exchange structuring.
Q3 treasury broking results bring ray of light for Reuters
LONDON -- Reuters' treasury broking services provided a rare piece of good news in the UK technology and data firm's Q3 results, published last week.
Trading places
JPMC FX safe from job cuts
Dealers suffer continued M&A woes
LONDON -- Forex-related mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity slumped further in Q3, according to data published earlier this month, adding to a difficult year for corporate sales.
MMS plans growth in forex analysis
LONDON -- FX and fixed-income analysis provider MMS International, part of the newly formed MMS Group, is to grow its headcount by 20%.
Germany to look at Tobin FX tax
FRANKFURT -- Germany's new government is considering the introduction of the Tobin tax on foreign exchange transactions, Reuters reported last week.
Euro, yen: G3 laggards
As domestic demand in the Eurozone and Japan slumps, the dollar has shrugged off news of a current account deficit, says Richard Grace, senior currency strategist at WestLB
Convenience is key for online trading
GENEVA -- Convenience is a key factor driving buy-side clients' use of online FX portals, according to professionals attending the Swift International Banking Operations Seminar (Sibos) conference in Geneva at the start of this month.