Foreign exchange
Banca Italease restructures after losses
MILAN – Banca Italease is to reorganise its risk management and control processes, following the announcement of a net loss of €686 million ($937 million) from its derivatives business.
Parker index hits new high
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT – The Parker FX Index reported a record return of 1.41% in June, with 58 indexed programmes reporting positive results and the remaining 21 reporting losses.
Morgan Stanley hires Fed veteran for advisory role
HONG KONG – Morgan Stanley Investment Management has hired Dino Kos, former head of the markets group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to lead a team advising on investment by central banks outside the US.
Deutsche adds in online flow
LONDON – Deutsche Bank has hired Eric Michelsen as head of online flow retail products. Based in London, he will play an integral role in developing Deutsche's global markets multi-product distribution business.
London FX volumes soar
LONDON & NEW YORK – Forex volumes in London have outstripped those of rival trading centres, as the city continues to reap the benefits of emerging market flows and dual time zones, according to figures released last week.
BNP Paribas boosts central bank sales
PARIS – BNP Paribas has strengthened its central bank and official institutions FX sales desk in Paris, with a senior FX sales hire.
Goldman head transfers to HK
TOKYO & HONG KONG – Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are realigning foreign exchange management to capture growing opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, market sources say.
Goldman head transfers to HK
TOKYO & HONG KONG – Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are realigning foreign exchange management to capture growing opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, market sources say.
US regulators clamp down on retail FX dealers
CHICAGO – The National Futures Association (NFA) last week (July 24) took emergency action against Fort Lauderdale-based forex dealer member (FDM) Nations Investments, for being undercapitalised by $3.5 million – the largest undercapitalisation seen by…
Oanda launches multi-client FXManager
TORONTO – Online forex trading company Oanda has launched FXManager, an interface allowing money managers to more efficiently execute and manage multiple client FX trades.
Knight prepares EMS for FX
JERSEY CITY – Market-maker Knight Capital Group plans to integrate FX trading capabilities into version 3.0 of its Knight Direct EMS platform, due out in September, say officials.
JP Morgan gets go-ahead for local incorporation in China
BEIJING – JP Morgan has received approval from Chinese regulators to establish a locally incorporated bank in the country.
Reuters' outage feeds rival volumes
LONDON – Reuters Group's matching platform experienced an outage in Australasia last Monday (July 23), causing a spike in dealing volumes on rival platform EBS, according to market sources.
Icap expands FX trading with sterling/Swiss pair
London-based interdealer broker Icap has today (July 30) launched trading in sterling/Swiss franc currency pair.
CME to launch on Swapstream
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) plans to launch a centrally cleared interest rate swap product on its electronic swaps platform Swapstream, from the first quarter of 2008.
Safeguarding against carry correction
It would be prudent to protect profits from a potential correction of recent carry trade trends, says Ian Stannard , Senior Currency Strategist at BNP Paribas in London
BoA realigns under GRCC umbrella
NEW YORK – Bank of America has realigned its currencies business alongside global rates and commodities, within a new global rates, currencies and commodities (GRCC) function, the bank has confirmed.
SEB to launch multi-manager currency fund
STOCKHOLM – SEB plans to launch an actively managed multi-manager currency fund in Q1 2008, in response to institutional client demand.
WMBA head speaks on best execution
LONDON – A potential solution to proving best execution in FX options and ancillary services is to reclassify the individual client, according to David Clark, chairman of the Wholesale Markets Brokers' Association (WMBA).
New technology boosts retail FX volumes
BOSTON & LONDON – New technology has been behind booming daily volumes in the global retail FX market, according to Catherine Hardiman, London-based head of Deutsche Bank's retail platform dbFX.
Morgan Stanley names sales heads
NEW YORK – Morgan Stanley has appointed two new FX sales heads, a spokesperson at the bank has told FX Week .
BNP Paribas adds three in sales from HSBC
SINGAPORE – BNP Paribas is believed to have boosted its FX sales team in Singapore, with three hires from banking rival HSBC.
Strong second quarter for major banks
NEW YORK & STOCKHOLM – Merrill Lynch, Citi and SEB reported strong financial results last week, with all three banks experiencing year-on-year gains.