News
No change likely for ringgit/dollar peg
KUALA LUMPAR -- The Malaysian ringgit’s (MYR) peg to the US dollar is likely to remain in place, analysts in Asia told FX Week , despite mounting speculation last week that it may be relaxed ahead of Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s retirement…
SG launches first UK currency warrants
LONDON -- SG, the investment banking arm of Société Générale, has issued the first currency warrants in the UK. This follows the release of warrants linked to oil, gold and house price moves by Goldman Sachs, SG’s biggest rival in this area.
CMC to launch in N America
NEW YORK -- Online FX trading firm CMC Group is making a bid for North American retail forex clients with a new office in New York.
BBA launches new Libor fixings
LONDON -- The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) added two new currencies to its Libor (London Interbank Overnight Rate) fixings last week.
ECB beckons Trichet as Credit Lyonnais trial ends
PARIS -- Jean-Claude Trichet -- front-runner for the top post in European central banking -- was acquitted of false accounting last week.
Fairex opens Japan data centre
SINGAPORE -- Singapore-based e-trading technology company Fairex International Financial Systems has opened a data centre in Japan, and plans further expansion into the Japanese market, a senior official told FX Week .
Banks take tighter control of liquidity management post CLS
LONDON -- The Continuous Linked Settlement Service (CLS) is affecting liquidity management processes, with many settlement members taking tighter control of their payment procedures, senior bank officials told FX Week .
Investors boost forex fund returns
NEW YORK -- Market trends and a surge in interest from investors is creating a bumper year for investment managers specialising in FX.
Top three make biggest gains
LONDON -- FX traders are used to hearing about the growing dominance of the top five or 10 banks in foreign exchange. But according to FX Week ’s exclusive yearly round-up of banks’ forex revenues, the process of consolidation is accelerating much more…
JP Morgan Chase expands global hedge fund sales
NEW YORK -- JP Morgan Chase has added three new FX sales staff in New York and Tokyo as part of an ongoing expansion in institutional forex.
Top three make biggest gains
LONDON -- FX traders are used to hearing about the growing dominance of the top five or 10 banks in foreign exchange. But according to FX Week ’s exclusive yearly round-up of banks’ forex revenues, the process of consolidation is accelerating much more…
BJB expands FX emerging markets
NEW YORK -- Bank Julius Baer has hired Daniel Sigler, an emerging markets foreign exchange options specialist in New York, as part of its emerging markets FX expansion.
OCC reports earnings uptick for US banks
WASHINGTON -- US commercial banks' revenues from FX positions increased by $220 million year-on-year, to $1.4 billion in Q1 2003, said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) last week.
FX Online Japan grows
TOKYO -- FX Online Japan has signed up 35 customers to use its internet-based retail FX trading system, since the company launched in April. James Gow, managing director and co-founder of the firm, told FX Week that he expected to "pick up around 20…
Banks counter IAS39 threat
LONDON -- Banks are developing new structuring models for corporate clients to ensure the IAS39 accounting standards do not result in a reduction of complex FX hedging activity.
Reduced capital requirements boost brokerage prospects in Hong Kong
HONG KONG -- Companies offering leveraged forex brokerage services in Hong Kong should brace themselves for an influx of competition. New players are being enticed into the market by reduced capital requirements for firms wishing to offer leveraged…
JPMC demos new risk tool
BOSTON -- JP Morgan Chase last week demonstrated its new risk management service, MorganRisk, at FX Week sister publication Risk magazine's ninth annual Risk USA conference in Boston.
Twist issues commercial payments requirements
LONDON -- Integration standards body Twist (the Treasury Workstation Integration Standards Team) has issued requirements for a range of XML-based messages to automate commercial payments processing for banks and their clients.
US dealers revise op risk standards
NEW YORK -- The Foreign Exchange Committee, a 20-dealer industry liaison group to the New York Federal Reserve Bank, has made new recommendations for the exercise of in-the-money FX options in a revision of its 1996 forex op risk best practices document…
Ulster Bank reorganises financial markets structure
DUBLIN -- Dublin-based Ulster Bank has reorganised its Corporate Banking and Financial Markets division (CBFM) in light of the imminent departure of Declan O'Neill, head of financial markets and group treasurer later this month, a senior bank official…
Euro pauses for breath as risk appetite wanes
LONDON -- FX traders had a chance to regroup last week following months of volatile dollar declines and new highs for the euro.