Foreign exchange
Platforms fight for electronic liquidity
Despite the seemingly relentless proliferation of trading platforms in the past few years, many in the industry still believe it's unlikely they will all survive.
Aegis ups algo capability for AthenaTrader 4.0
NEW YORK - Trading technology vendor Aegis Software has increased the number of algorithmic trading models available on the latest version of its execution system, AthenaTrader.
HotspotFX in white-label talks for retail offer
JERSEY CITY - HotspotFX is in talks with an undisclosed number of banks for the use of its retail electronic communications network (ECN) platform, HotspotFXr, following a global rollout of the platform at the beginning of this year.
FX supports profits at HSBC
LONDON - The global banking and markets business at HSBC reported pre-tax profits up 5% to $6.1 billion for 2007, despite severe disruption in the global credit markets.
Merrill Lynch reshuffles EMEA FICC
LONDON & NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch named David Gu sole head of Europe, Middle East and Africa fixed-income currencies and commodities (EMEA FICC) in London last week, after the resignation of co-head Dimitrios Psyllidis.
BNP names global options chief
LONDON & SINGAPORE - Simon Nursey has been appointed as BNP Paribas's global head of foreign exchange options trading, effective last Monday (March 3).
Eurobase Siena launches liquidity aggregation tool
LONDON - Eurobase Banking Solutions will offer a liquidity aggregation module later this month, in response to customer demand.
EBS's February volumes eclipse 2007 levels
Last month's average daily volume of spot FX traded on Icap's electronic spot broking platform EBS Spot increased 34% on February 2007, to $217.2 billion. The interdealer broker reported average daily spot FX trading was also up 32% for the year ending…
StanChart gets a FIX
Standard Chartered last week announced that it has developed a FIX application programming interface (API) to trade over its single-bank platform.
New options classes for latest Fenics release
LONDON - Seven new option classes are being added to the latest version of GFI Group's Fenics, an FX options pricing, risk management and trading tool.
Bailey named Newedge's deputy global head of FX
NEW YORK & LONDON - Michael Bailey, head of European FX for institutional brokerage Newedge in London, has been given the additional role of deputy global head of FX.
Citi and Wegelin team up to launch new forex portfolio
LONDON & ST GALLEN - Citi and Swiss private bank Wegelin Asset Management launched the Citi Wegelin Active Currencies portfolio last Tuesday (February 26), an investable portfolio based on six systematic FX strategies.
MF Global loses $141.5m from rogue wheat trade
NEW YORK - Interdealer broker MF Global has lost $141.5 million after it was forced to cover trading losses made by one of its employees.
EBS Spot aims for NDF supremacy
LONDON - The battle to gain market share in electronic non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) broking is gathering pace, with the launch of seven Asian NDFs and Russian rouble trading on electronic spot broking system EBS Spot today (March 3).
Forex delivers for StanChart and RBS
LONDON - Income from FX helped Standard Chartered boost profits to a record high, as British banks announced full-year results tempered by exposure to subprime investments.
Mifid compliance: a matter of principles
Since the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) went into effect on November 1, 2007, financial firms have been racing to implement principles-based regulation to remain compliant and competitive. With various EU members in different…
Letter to the Editor
I read your comments regarding our acquisition of FX Solutions (published February 11) and just wanted to make a couple of comments.
UBS receives India banking go-ahead
MUMBAI - UBS joined an elite pool of foreign banks to receive an Indian banking licence last Monday (Feb 18) from the Reserve Bank of India.
Deutsche offers CRI-linked auto-callables
LONDON - Deutsche Bank is now selling auto-callable and target redemption notes linked to its Currency Return Index (CRI).
StanChart launches quant academy to crack market
LONDON & SINGAPORE - Standard Chartered is boosting its quantitative skills base through a new quant academy programme.
Clients pay a price for transparency
Although some banks appear to be experiencing initial success with the rollout of algorithmic execution services to clients in foreign exchange, it seems any extension of the portfolio of tools available could be curtailed by limited data from electronic…
Thai currency restrictions here to stay
BANGKOK - The Thai central government stopped short of lifting controversial foreign currency restrictions last week, despite embarking on a push to relax capital controls last month.
EBS opened to third-party vendors
LONDON - Icap is expanding access to electronic spot foreign exchange broking platform EBS by allowing selected third-party independent software vendors (ISVs) to write directly to the platform.