News
Conflict puts newswires on overdrive
LONDON -- Market data firms reported booming interest in their services last week, as traders are increasingly turning to war reports to influence their trading.
Manila clamps down on ‘dollar hoarders’
MANILA -- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippines central bank, last week imposed monetary and non-monetary sanctions on eight banks for violating FX laws.
White-label trend takes root
LONDON -- The liquidity outsourcing industry is reaching a crucial stage in its development, according to bankers, vendors and analysts polled by FX Week .
Strategists’ role in prop trading under focus in choppy markets
NEW YORK -- Choppy markets are highlighting the difficulties of accurately forecasting currency moves -- and no more so than for those banks with capital behind their strategists’ recommendations.
Further uncertainty grips market
LONDON -- FX markets breathed a sigh of relief last week as the war in Iraq got under way, but as one source of uncertainty was removed, another popped up.
360T lures JPMC’s Mohr
FRANKFURT -- German FX technology firm 360T has hired Andrea Mohr from JP Morgan Chase in London to spearhead its sales effort.
Merrill to settle its forex trades via Citi
NEW YORK -- Citigroup has won a coveted deal to settle Merrill Lynch’s forex trades on its behalf on the new Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) service for FX.
BoA sells Canada corp arm
TORONTO -- FX services group Travelex has bought part of Bank of America’s corporate forex business in Canada.
CLS settlement "100% on time"
NEW YORK -- Despite some disruptions, trade settlement on the new Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) service for FX has seen 100% ‘on-time’ performance since its September 9 launch.
Italian team snubs Merrill
LONDON -- A three-strong Italian FX sales team backtracked on a move to Merrill Lynch to rejoin Goldman Sachs in London last week.
Deutsche adds to e-FX
NEW YORK -- Deutsche Bank plans to add FX options, futures and exchange-for-physical contracts to its FX electronic trading and order management platform, autobahnFX, by the third quarter.
Dollar bloc upsurge boosts Australian forex turnover
SYDNEY -- Increasing interest in Australian dollar trading is boosting Australian banks’ forex turnover, senior market participants told FX Week .
BarCap lures top dealers
LONDON -- Barclays Capital is in the midst of an aggressive recruitment campaign in London and New York, targeting staff at the world’s top investment banks.
Regulators approve Allfirst purchase
NEW YORK -- Federal and state regulators have approved M&T Bank’s purchase of Allied Irish Banks’ US subsidiary Allfirst Financial -- the bank that last February discovered it had lost nearly $700 million from fraudulent FX trading.
Goldman down, Bear Stearns up in Q1 forex
NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs last week reported reduced forex revenues within its fixed-income, currency and commodities (FICC) division for Q1, although other US investment banks fared better.
Payments banks in CLS lead
NEW YORK -- Banks with traditionally strong payments businesses are winning the race for CLS third-party clients, according to consultancy Capco.
ACI postpones Beirut meeting
BEIRUT -- The biennial meeting of the forex industry organised by ACI-The Financial Markets Association, has been postponed until September 10--14, the ACI announced last week.
ECB highlights dangers of over-concentrated market
FRANKFURT -- Market consolidation and a reliance on electronic trading could lead to an over-concentration of risk and liquidity among too few market participants, the European Central Bank has warned.
Trading places
BNP Paribas boosts FX sales
Rumours hit jumpy FX markets
LONDON -- FX markets starved of certainty saw some price movement last week, mostly on the back of unconfirmed rumours regarding the war in Iraq.
Citigroup’s Englander joins BarCap but top research post stays vacant
LONDON -- Brian Martin, global head of FX research at Barclays Capital in London, has left the bank.