Foreign exchange
Calls on low yielders overpriced
GLOBAL - Dealers report an overpricing on calls in low-yielding currencies, as investors move into less risky assets.
BNP Paribas ups the ante in forex
LONDON - BNP Paribas plans to roll out a new foreign exchange trading platform to select clients by the end of the year, in a bid to grow its presence in FX.
Citic admits $2bn loss
HONG KONG - Citic Pacific is being investigated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission after admitting it could face almost $2 billion in losses due to involvement in unauthorised currency hedging.
SEB's multi-manager fund thrives
STOCKHOLM - SEB's multi-manager currency fund has returned 2.45% over cash on a year-to-date basis and 48 basis points for September, say bank officials.
A return to vanilla
GLOBAL - Banks are preparing for a vanilla year next year in the derivatives market, as investors seek transparent structures in an environment of heightened volatility and inconsistent liquidity.
Three Nomura Lehman hires named
LONDON - Details continue to emerge about the identities of the 150 Lehman Brothers staff who made the move to Nomura in London two weeks ago ( FX Week , October 13).
Forex derivatives under scrutiny
MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities will interview banks selling currency derivatives to corporates in the country, as part of an investigation into irregular reporting of exposures by listed companies.
BoNY signs up to GFI's Fenics FX
NEW YORK - Bank of New York Mellon has signed a three-year licence for GFI Fenics FX, a pricing and risk management software system.
Futures broker RCG buys MG Financial
CHICAGO & NEW YORK - Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG) completed the acquisition of online foreign exchange trading company MG Financial on October 15.
Currencies shine in Q3
NEW YORK - Record levels of volatility are ensuring rates and currency businesses continue to be the shining lights, as evident in third-quarter fixed-income results released by dealers last week.
BarCap picks Caplin for rates
LONDON - Barclays Capital has signed a contract to purchase web-based application Caplin Trader for its fixed-income electronic commerce system.
Interbank lending eases further
LONDON - The Ted spread, along with overnight and three-month Libor, fell for the fourth day in succession after European governments announced bail-out packages on Monday (October 13), and the US followed suit on Tuesday.
Ex-Lehman UK staff find new FX roles
LONDON - Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered and JP Morgan have all moved to make further hires from Lehman Brothers' former foreign exchange team.
Credit Suisse launches currency basket options
LONDON - Credit Suisse has introduced currency basket options on Merlin, its proprietary electronic foreign exchange structured products trading platform, in response to client demand.
Mixed forecast for FX
LONDON - Foreign exchange teams will avoid the worst of the job cuts in the City of London, although market sources warn no-one will be immune from redundancies.
Hotspot FX hires Asia sales head
SINGAPORE - Hotspot FX has appointed Trent Beacroft as head of Asia sales in Singapore.
BNP and Deutsche give homes to Lehman staff
LONDON - Not all Lehman Brothers' refugees have ended up at Nomura - BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank have also stepped in to make hires.
FX traders exercise caution
GLOBAL - Traders worldwide continue to avoid dealing with each other, despite co-ordinated efforts by global central banks to ease the turmoil in the financial market through rate cuts and fund injections.
Japan traders dump short yen positions
TOKYO - Japanese retail foreign exchange margin traders abandoned $16 billion worth of short yen positions within days last week, in a scramble to limit losses from unwinding carry trades.
Colombia fruitful for Citi settlement
BOGOTA & NEW YORK - Citi's Colombia-based domestic settlement service began settling more than $1.3 billion in FX trades daily in September, representing in excess of 80% of the Colombian wholesale FX market.
JSE trades first $20m options contract
JOHANNESBURG - The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has traded its first currency options contract with a notional value of $20 million.
JDFX gets smart with Kontrol
ZURICH - Foreign exchange trading company JDFX has capitalised on an increasing focus on risk management within financial markets by launching Kontrol, a system built to eliminate inefficiencies and dangers caused by calculating risk several times a day…