Foreign exchange
Citi embarks on major shake-up
NEW YORK, LONDON & SINGAPORE – Citi has completed the next phase of senior management changes in FX under the new fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) structure introduced in 2006.
Merrill Lynch launches first rated CFXO
LONDON – Merrill Lynch has launched the first full rated and managed collateralised foreign exchange obligation. The product is being managed by Crédit Agricole Asset Management, and rated by Standard & Poor's.
Morgan Stanley gets Tradebook
NEW YORK – Morgan Stanley has enabled its institutional clients to electronically trade FX and interest rate futures on Bloomberg's Tradebook platform.
BoA creates London team
LONDON – Bank of America (BoA) has created a proprietary rates trading team to manage strategic positions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Scotiabank automates forex trading in Mexico
LONDON – Scotiabank has adopted and deployed Cognotec's AutoDeal+ trading platform in Mexico, to offer automated FX trading to its clients for the first time.
BNP hires two US rates heads
NEW YORK, LONDON & PARIS – BNP Paribas has boosted its New York rates and London commodities businesses, but is said to have lost in French FX sales.
Credit Suisse joins index bandwagon
LONDON – Credit Suisse has launched FX Rolling Optimised Carry Indices (ROCI) for forex carry trade investors.
CME hires two for forex product push
CHICAGO – The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has expanded its FX products team, with two newly created positions in FX options and sales.
Standard Chartered launches e-trading channel
LONDON – Standard Chartered went live on May 2 with Straight2Bank, its proprietary electronic banking channel for corporate and institutional clients.
Hotspot and Traiana warm up to Netlink
JERSEY CITY, NJ – Electronic communications network Hotspot FX is teaming up with FX post-trade technology vendor Traiana, to roll out NetLink over its institutional platform.
ABN Amro loses sales staff amid merger talks
LONDON & FRANKFURT – ABN Amro has seen departures from its London and Frankfurt sales desks in the run-up to the bank's proposed merger with Barclays.
CME and Reuters post forex-driven results
CHICAGO – Forex volume traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) rose 36% from 407,000 contracts a day in Q1 2006 to a record 555,000 in Q1 2007.
Collateralised FX obligation market takes off
LONDON – The market for collateral- ised foreign exchange obligations (CFXO) is gaining pace, with Derivative Fitch establishing a ratings methodology for the products.
Shakeup at JP Morgan
LONDON & TOKYO – JP Morgan has relocated Ray Eyles, formerly regional head of currencies and commodities in Singapore and global head of metals and the proprietary trading group, to London.
Dsquare selects Logicscope software
LONDON – Forex trading boutique Dsquare has signed TradeSTP, the post-trade notification software from technology vendor Logicscope.
Cognotec launches Realstream Rate Manager
DUBLIN – Dublin-based technology vendor Cognotec has today (April 30) launched Realstream Rate Manager, an advanced rate manager that calculates a customised market rate for banks to distribute prices tailored to different trading venues.
Deutsche restructures FX operations in Japan
TOKYO – Deutsche Bank has rebuilt its FX operations in Japan with seven hires and two transfers, amid a sweeping reorganisation of the business in the country.
Reuters to open up desktops, hailing radical new strategy
LONDON – Reuters is opening up the Dealing 3000 and 3000 Xtra desktops to rival platforms, in what signals a seismic shift in strategy for the electronic broker.
FX and DX: valuing the US Dollar Index futures contract
Several theoretical models have been proposed in the 22 years since the DX futures contract was launched. Here, Charles Wright, principal of Alpha Numerics in New York, discusses a numerical approach
Mifid and forex in a nutshell
The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive is placed under the microscope by Richard Hartheimer , managing director at Currenex, Europe in London
How Mifid affects the global FX market
Mifid will create an even more efficient market for FX services that can be delivered quickly, inexpensively and globally, says Chris Pickles , chair of its Joint Working Group in London
Who's who on the exhibition floor?
FX Week gives a rundown of some of the top exhibitors at this year's event. Find out who's showcasing what, then see the box on the next page for your entertainment listings
Icap launches Aussie/Kiwi pair
LONDON – Interdealer broker Icap is going live with the Australian dollar (AUD) and Kiwi dollar (NZD) as a tradable pair today (April 30).