Foreign exchange
London behind on gender equality
LONDON – The paucity of women forex professionals in London is likely to persist as its reputation as a male-dominated arena continues, according to market observers.
Facilitate to accumulate
Kim Fournais, chief executive of Saxo Bank, says the race to deliver the perfect multi-product trading platform need not be a zero-sum game
BarCap adds CME options to Barx
NEW YORK/CHICAGO – Barclays Capital has become the first bank to provide CME eurodollar options strategies capability to its electronic trading system, Barx.
Korea to restrict currency data
SEOUL – The Bank of Korea (BoK) is set to restrict parties that are able to view real-time currency data, in a bid to curb currency speculation, from next month.
Milan bank makes cuts overseas
MILAN – Banca Popolare di Milano has closed its overseas FX capabilities and now operates exclusively from Milan.
Deutsche Bank cuts out $1 trillion
LONDON – Deutsche Bank cut out $1 trillion of what it described as 'predatory trades' last year, as it repositioned its business to make it more profitable.
ABN names new Asia distribution head
SINGAPORE – ABN Amro has named Andrew Ford regional head of foreign exchange and local markets distribution for Asia-Pacific in Singapore, as the Dutch bank continues its push in the region.
Nybot launches euro index
NEW YORK – The New York Board of Trade (Nybot) will today launch trading in euro index options, as further evidence of the demand for exchange-traded currency products.
Wealth management: the new investment banking?
LONDON – Wealth management could become "the next investment banking", as more investment banks look for alternative sources of liquidity in an already over-saturated market, according to market participants.
Bank of England revises forex guidelines
LONDON – The Bank of England last week introduced its updated code on good market practice in foreign exchange, changing its format and making amendments to its content.
Goldman forex chief retires
NEW YORK – Industry veteran Peter Gerhard has retired from his post at Goldman Sachs, after 23 years there.
BoC taps EBS Spot, sets up FX desks
BEIJING – China's largest FX trading bank by volume, Bank of China (Beijing) is the latest bank to use EBS Spot, the e-FX spot broking platform.
EBS enhances market data offering
LONDON & New York – FX platform EBS has enhanced its spot capabilities with an additional market data offering.
StanChart builds in Asia
SHANGHAI & HONG KONG – Standard Chartered has hired Fu Qing, to head FX trading in Shanghai.
Lesson from Refco: keep it transparent
Yes, this is the second editorial in a row that I have written about Refco, but I make no apology for it. There are too many important lessons to be learned from the collapse for the industry to be able to move on as if nothing had happened.
Guarantees limiting overall bonus levels
LONDON – The increasing number of guaranteed bonuses in 2005 to top-performers means staff without these packages are likely to see a drop in bonus levels, say market observers.
Size matters, survey finds
GREENWICH, CT – The ability to execute large currency trades is one of the key components in winning new FX business from corporates and institutional clients, according to research from Greenwich Associates.
US banks benefit from dollar upswing
NEW YORK – April saw stateside banks benefiting from a greenback revival, with profits surging in the first quarter.
No votes lead to euro volatility
LONDON – The ‘no’ votes on the EU constitution referendums in France and the Netherlands led to unexpected volatility in the currency markets at the start of the month, with the highest volumes ever seen on some platforms.
BarCap desk in Shanghai
SHANGHAI – Barclays Capital is launching an FX trading business in Shanghai after receiving a branch licence at the end of December.
Bloomberg and Reuters in, Centradia out
NEW YORK AND LONDON – February proved to be a month of arrivals and departures, with multi-bank portal Centradia ceasing to exist and Bloomberg and Reuters announcing their intention to target the buy side.
Banks boost online options offerings
LONDON AND NEW YORK – Banks were busy building up their online capabilities in December with a number of players seeking to move emerging markets options online.