Foreign exchange
US options volume may break two billion
Chicago-based Options Industry Council (OIC) has reported both total US options volume and average daily options volume have increased by 36%.
History calls for caution on Kiwi
History suggests we may see one last squeeze higher over Christmas for the kiwi, says Rhiannon Healy, solutions specialist for ANZ in London
LiquidityHub hires chief executive, pooling banks' resources
Robert MacLeod has been made chief executive of London-based LiquidityHub, a venture that aims to electronically pool the fixed-income liquidity of 11 investment banks.
The mixed blessings of co-operation
Co-operation in the foreign exchange industry has generally tended to bolster the market.
Citigroup launches Islamic finance products in Singapore
SINGAPORE – Citigroup has launched commodity murabaha investments denominated in the US dollar, euro, pound sterling and Singapore dollar.
TwoFour connects to FXall
Technology vendor TwoFour Systems last week teamed up with multi-bank portal FXall to offer its clients access to prices directly through its own trading platform.
Citigroup and GSB sign memo of understanding
BANGKOK – Government Savings Bank (GSB), Thailand's state bank, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Citigroup in Thailand to start an international banking business that will launch in the first part of next year.
Asia focus for Bank Julius Baer
ZURICH & SINGAPORE – Bank Julius Baer is understood to be transferring Fred Etheart from Zurich to Singapore, where he will develop an institutional foreign exchange sales desk.
ASIA PACIFIC NEWS: ABN Amro pays $4.5m settlement in Vietnam forex trading case
HANOI – Dutch bank ABN Amro has paid $4.5 million to police to settle a dispute over allegations by the Vietnamese government that its traders broke FX trading regulations.
FXall in ruble push
MOSCOW – Multibank platform FXall has added five liquidity providing banks to bolster trading in the Russian ruble.
Algo trading to double, says Eurex
CHICAGO – "The rise in activity of algorithmic traders is impressive, and it's changing the nature of electronic trading," said Andreas Preuss, chief executive of Eurex.
Icap switches voice brokers
LONDON – Icap is moving resources from the major currencies into emerging markets, as the interdealer broker acts to reflect the changed FX landscape.
Dresdner rebuilds forex team
LONDON & NEW YORK – Dresdner Kleinwort (DK) has made three senior hires as it rebuilds it FX team after a series of departures to Merrill Lynch in September and October.
Icap switches voice brokers
LONDON – Icap is moving resources from the major currencies into emerging markets, as the interdealer broker acts to reflect the changed FX landscape.
RBS and JP Morgan scale back prop trading
LONDON – Royal Bank of Scotland closed its London-based prop trading desk last week in the latest sign of the hardship faced by FX desks at banks.
Tullett Prebon launches multi-asset market data service
LONDON – Tullett Prebon Information, the market data division of interdealer broker Tullett Prebon, last week launched its market data service, Mark2Marker.
Margin trading – an untapped opportunity
Brian Maccaba , executive chairman of Cognotec, highlights the huge growth in web-based FX margin trading and argues that banks cannot afford to ignore the opportunities that this presents
EBS credited for 75% rise in e-broking revenues at Icap
LONDON – Spot broker EBS was largely behind a 75% rise in second-half electronic broking revenues at interdealer broker Icap, the broker said last week.
ISE prepares FX options launch
NEW YORK – The International Securities Exchange (ISE) has begun publishing the underlying rates for its new ISE FX options, in preparation for launch next year.
BarCap joins LiquidityHub
NEW YORK – Barclays Capital (BarCap) has joined the LiquidityHub bank consortium, which plans to aggregate liquidity and market data for electronic trading, for their clients.
Citi forms FICC group
NEW YORK – Citigroup has merged its global fixed income and emerging markets businesses to establish a new global fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) group.
The carry trade shows best returns
LONDON – Carry trading can still produce positive returns, but trend trading models are losing ground, Citigroup's risk advisory group director, Jessica James told the FX Week Europe Congress.
Icap pushes into options
LONDON – Icap plans to launch non-deliverable forwards and develop an electronic FX options trading platform, CEO Michael Spencer told the FX Week annual congress in his keynote address.