News
Trading levels show growth of forex as asset class
LONDON & CHICAGO - Interdealer broker Icap and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) reported record foreign exchange trading volumes in 2007, demonstrating the continued adoption of forex as an asset class.
SWFs look beyond the US dollar
NEW YORK & HONG KONG - The greenback is likely to be the main loser as sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) diversify into yen and other non-euro currencies, say analysts.
Alliance & Leicester boosts FX
LONDON - Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank is developing its foreign exchange coverage with a key hire in London.
Forex results strong in Q4
NEW YORK - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reported strong results for foreign exchange in the fourth quarter of 2007, despite challenging market conditions.
Yen carry traders dealt New Year blow
LONDON & TOKYO - Several dealers were caught out when rolling over short yen positions in GBP/JPY carry trades over the New Year period as the yen surged against the pound, traders told FX Week.
Goldman Sachs launches FX algos
LONDON - Goldman Sachs plans to debut foreign exchange trading algorithms in the first half of 2008, as part of a strategy to gain market share.
BGC loses FX chief but gains e-commerce head
LONDON - Interdealer broker BGC Partners has lost its London-based managing director of foreign exchange, but has strengthened its e-commerce capabilities with a key hire in the City.
Lehman gains from CBA split
SYDNEY - The Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) decision to split its global markets and treasury business is playing into the hands of local competitors Lehman Brothers and the National Australia Bank.
FxTrade fined $9.9 million for fraud
WASHINGTON, DC - The US District Court for Tennessee found Gordon Jack Vandeveld, a broker at Tennessee firm FxTrade Financial, guilty of futures fraud on December 12.
Lehman sees forex up but fixed income down in Q4
NEW YORK - Lehman Brothers has achieved strong foreign exchange revenues for the fourth quarter, despite suffering big losses in fixed income.
Subprime crisis drains FX bonus pool
LONDON - Staff at banks worst hit by the subprime crisis are due to face reductions in cash payouts, sources tell FX Week .
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.
Saxo in executive shake-up
COPENHAGEN - Christian Frahm, senior executive director and head of Europe, excluding UK and the Middle East, at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen, left the bank last month.
CIB boosts voice-trading tech
SHANGHAI - China Industrial Bank (CIB) has enhanced its voice-trading operations, adopting Orange Business Services Trading Solutions' dealing telephony.
StanChart first for trade volumes
LONDON - Standard Chartered has been ranked first for trade transaction volumes in Hong Kong, Singapore and the UAE by industry messaging co-operative Swift.
FXMS reveals profit-share plans
LONDON - FXMarketSpace (FXMS) is introducing a profit-share programme that will allocate 37.5% of its pre-tax profit between the most active traders, in an aggressive push to boost liquidity on the platform.
Parker FX Index up 1.4% in October
STAMFORD, CT - The Parker FX Index was up 1.44% in October as managers benefited from a declining US dollar, which was down -1.6% against a basket of G-6 currencies.
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.
Icap completes Traiana deal
LONDON & NEW YORK - Interdealer broker Icap completed the acquisition of New York-based post-trade technology vendor Traiana on December 4.
Hotspot FXi revamp means faster trades
JERSEY CITY, NJ - Electronic communications network (ECN) Hotspot FXi plans to implement a multiple-server matching engine architecture to replace its single matching engine in January 2008, to improve the platform's performance.
Credit Suisse e-trades exotics
LONDON - Credit Suisse has enabled trading in structured exotic foreign exchange options on its proprietary electronic trading platform, Merlin, with select institutional clients globally, the Swiss dealer said last week.
StanChart hires options chief from Credit Suisse
NEW YORK - Standard Chartered has hired its new head of flow business for its foreign exchange options trading desk in New York from rival bank Credit Suisse.