News
Won worries for Korea
SEOUL -- The Korean won could be weakened in the medium term by the slowing of South Korea’s economy and government policy failing to tackle a slump in consumer spending, says a recent report by Barclays Capital.
Record Q2 at CME
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has reported record revenues for the second quarter, spurred by strong trading volume in FX, interest rates and equities.
BoA names new global head
CHICAGO -- Jonathan Moulds, global head of interest rates, Treasuries and agencies business at Bank of America, has assumed responsibility for global foreign exchange and local debt operations in Asia and Mexico, according to an internal memo from Ed…
ABN creates global cash role
AMSTERDAM -- Dutch bank ABN Amro has created the position of global head of cash trading in an effort to further co-ordinate its FX trading activities. The move reflects its growing forex business, a senior official told FX Week .
Single currency in west Africa still a long way off
ABUJA -- Efforts to establish a single currency across west Africa continue to falter due to a lack of political commitment and inconsistencies in meeting the convergence criteria, said Joseph Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, speaking in…
Merrill rebuilds local markets trading team
LONDON -- Merrill Lynch has rebuilt a six-strong local markets trading team in London during the past month, after natural attrition whittled the original team’s headcount to one.
Third-party CLS take-up slows
LONDON -- Take-up of the continuous linked settlement (CLS) service by third-party banks is slowing as a result of time-consuming back-office changes and a waning sense of urgency, CLS project managers have told FX Week .
Prebon sells Swedish ops
STOCKHOLM -- UK-based inter-dealer broker Prebon Yamane has sold its operations in Stockholm to the existing Swedish management for an undisclosed amount.
Integral hires another ex-EBS staffer
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- Trading technology firm Integral continued its hiring spree of ex-EBS staff, with the recent addition of Ian Doull, developer of the spot broker’s dealing system. As vice-president of product marketing in New York, Doull will lead…
BarCap launches first single-dealer electronic platform for euro swaps
LONDON -- Barclays Capital and Bloomberg last week launched the first single-dealer online platform for trading interest rate swaps. The platform enables BarCap’s clients to trade vanilla euro-denominated interest rate swaps across various maturities via…
Merrill rebuilds local markets trading team
LONDON -- Merrill Lynch has rebuilt a six-strong local markets trading team in London during the past month, after natural attrition whittled the original team’s headcount to one.
Saxo adds futures trading with Refco
COPENHAGEN -- Danish investment bank Saxo Bank has added futures coverage to its online trading platform SaxoTrader as part of a partnership with Refco Overseas, the European arm of New York-based Refco Group.
RBS closes trading desk in Edinburgh
EDINBURGH -- Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)has closed its FX and money markets trading desk in Edinburgh and rerouted trading to London, a spokesperson for the bank told FX Week .
German hedge fund reform raises FX hopes
MUNICH -- New proposals for the laws governing hedge funds and funds of funds in Germany could open up the market to a wider audience and heighten FX opportunities.
State Street and BoNY buck earnings downtrend
NEW YORK -- State Street and Bank of New York bucked a downward trend in US banks’ forex revenues for the first six months of 2003, according to first-half results released last week.
Investment banks drive for diversity
LONDON -- Investment banks are not known for being the most receptive working environments for women or ethnic minorities. The entertainment media perpetuates perceptions about the hard-drinking hard-working aggressive lifestyle of bankers on Wall Street…
Analysts cautious on US reflation
NEW YORK -- Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan’s increased optimism in his testimony last Tuesday (July 15) prompted expectations that the US economy may finally begin the reflation process, but analysts advised caution last week.
Hotspot FXi takes Traiana
NEW JERSEY -- Online institutional FX trading platform Hotspot FXi has taken Californian vendor Traiana’s automated FX prime brokerage software to automate the give-up of trades between prime brokers and institutional clients using its platform.
MMS globalises forex analysis coverage
LONDON -- FX and fixed-income research firm MMS International has enhanced its forex analysis by globalising its coverage, said senior officials.
Welsh rings HSBC changes
NEW YORK -- Two spot traders left HSBC in New York in July. However, the bank is fully staffed in spot FX, having added two senior traders before their departure, said Ben Welsh, head of FX sales and trading in New York.
Cognotec reduces pricing risk
DUBLIN -- Irish forex trading technology vendor Cognotec has launched a pricing tool to improve banks’ speed in providing electronic forex quotes.
Reuters sues Bloomberg
Trading technology rivals’ battle heats up over forex patent claims NEW YORK -- US trading technology firm Bloomberg could be forced to stop using parts of its FX matching and conversational dealing technology, if its UK rival Reuters succeeds in a…