News
Activity set to soar in Romanian leu
BUCHAREST – Interest in trading the Romanian leu is picking up, as the country opens to foreign investment and gears up for entry into the European Union.
NAB revamping and re-opening foreign exchange options desk
MELBOURNE – National Australia Bank (NAB) will reopen its FX options desk on May 9, following its closure after last year's trading scandal ( FX Week , January 19, 2004).
ABN Amro launches e/$ indicator
LONDON – ABN Amro has launched FX Regime Prediction Indicator, a model indicating how euro/dollar is likely to trend, or whether it will be subject to movements within a trading range.
RBS launches online FX trading service
EDINBURGH – The Royal Bank of Scotland has launched Trade, an online trading service for forex, money markets and global treasury funds.
GFI expands Fenics with bank volatilities
NEW YORK – Interdealer broker GFI is expanding the coverage of its Fenics pricing and risk tool to include volatility surfaces – the methods by which options are priced – from bank clients.
Icap and CST settle dispute out of court
HONG KONG – Interdealer brokers Icap and Collin Stewart Tullett (CST) have settled a legal dispute over the defection of 25 staff from CST to Icap, confirmed a CST spokesperson.
IFX launches forex fund
LONDON – IFX Capital Management, a division of IFX Markets, will launch the Zenith Currency Fund this week.
Hotspot FXi opens in Beijing
BEIJING – Electronic trading marketplace Hotspot FXi has opened an office in Beijing to support its activities in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Managers turn to options
LONDON – Currency managers are increasingly turning to options to derive returns from implied volatility in the currency markets.
RTS revamps core platform
MOSCOW – RTS Stock Exchange is revamping its core technologies to accommodate new trading strategies.
StanChart beefs-up trading
LONDON – Standard Chartered has seen developments in its trading team with two arrivals and a departure.
Bear Stearns rejigs London and New York forex desks
LONDON AND NEW YORK – Bear Stearns has made a number of changes to its FX desks in London and New York as it builds in some areas while losing staff in others.
Sabbaticals gain approval
LONDON – The FX industry has seen a number of high-profile figures taking time out of the industry in recent months, with market participants saying sabbaticals would be a healthy option for the industry.
Glitch forces Globex trading halt
CHICAGO – The Chicago Mercantile Exchange was forced to suspend trading of eurodollar futures on its Globex trading platform for two hours last Thursday, April 14, after users experienced problems accessing the eurodollar electronic matching engine.
Mixed reaction to EBS Prime initiative
LONDON – Interbank trading platform EBS' foray into the investor community is being taken up with varying degrees of enthusiasm by member banks.
MAS maintains forex policy
SINGAPORE – The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) maintained its policy of a modest and gradual appreciation of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate, last week.
New investors spur 2004 forex growth
GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT – An increase in FX trade by almost a quarter last year was largely driven by a new class of professional FX investors.
CLS set to expand remit
LONDON – CLS could substantially increase its remit with the introduction of a matching and netting facility for non-eligible currencies and settlement of options, non-deliverable forwards, futures and credit derivatives.
Further changes at Bank of America
SINGAPORE – Ramanathan Madhavan Muckai, senior strategist, focusing on macro-economics, is the third departure from Bank of America's (BoA) currency strategy team in Singapore.
RBS sees change in sales
LONDON – Royal Bank of Scotland's sales team has seen changes recently with one appointment and a departure.