Foreign exchange
CLS settles a trillion a day
NEW YORK -- Continuous Linked Settlement, the new settlement service for foreign exchange, settled a record $1 trillion in FX payments on February 18.
Traders reap rewards in LatAm markets
MEXICO CITY -- As clients and banks scour the globe for volatile FX markets, Latin America has become a key battleground for new FX business, senior market participants told FX Week .
ABN Amro overhauls FM division
AMSTERDAM -- ABN Amro last week completed a thorough overhaul of its financial markets division, in a reorgnisation that will affect foreign exchange in two key ways.
RBA unwinds Australian dollar holding
SYDNEY -- The Reserve Bank of Australia took profits on its Australian dollar holdings earlier this year, selling nearly A$500 million, according to the bank’s February bulletin.
China forex volumes rise
BEIJING -- Forex turnover in the Chinese market rocketed by 73% in January, according to data made public last week.
Dollar downtrend halts decline in US hedging
NEW YORK -- The US dollar’s decline in recent months has sparked an increase in hedging activity among US companies, six months after senior FX officials reported that many firms were unhedged.
Rusnak lessons still unheeded
NEW YORK -- Global banks are yet to implement key recommendations to limit rogue trading losses, one year on from John Rusnak’s record $700 million forex fraud.
ABN reports FX uptick
LONDON -- Dutch bank ABN Amro reported a 40% rise in FX dealing income for 2002 in a report released last week.
Goldman to add FX to research portal
LONDON -- Investment bank Goldman Sachs will add FX to a new centralised data and research platform in March.
GFI closes FX options mark-to-market gap
NEW YORK -- Solving the problem of marking FX options to market came a step closer to being resolved last week, with the launch of a new ‘revaluation fixing’ service from New York-based interdealer broker GFI.
Private client demand soars for FX firm
LONDON -- More private clients in the UK buying property in Europe has boosted demand for a new specialist FX firm, a senior official at Seagray Matthews Foreign Exchange (SGM-FX) told FX Week .
Combined sales teams take off
LONDON -- The FX sales dealer may soon be a thing of the past if a new trend for cross-product sales teams catches on.
Heavyweights tackle rising un-named counterparty risk
NEW YORK -- Top FX banks are joining forces with central banks and industry groups to eliminate un-named counterparty risk.
Barclays merges FX/FI prime brokerage
LONDON -- Barclays Capital will complete the merger of its FX and fixed-income prime brokerage businesses by the end of March, a senior official told FX Week .
Amex Bank’s FX revenues rising
BOSTON -- American Express Bank last week announced an uptick in its FX revenues for 2002. Amex reported foreign exchange income and other, undefined, trading revenues for full-year 2002 of $170 million, up 18% from $144 million in 2001.
Shift in risk sentiment shores up Australian options market
SYDNEY -- A change in risk sentiment, coupled with major underlying spot moves in local currencies, is bringing extra FX options business to Australia, according to local dealers.
Egypt floats pound
CAIRO -- The Egyptian pound remained stable last week at 5.41 per dollar after it was freely floated for the first time last Wednesday (January 29).
New US laws could hit retail market
NEW YORK -- New laws being drawn up by US regulators could hit volumes in the US retail FX market, officials said last week.
Reorg brings ABN derivatives joy
LONDON -- Officials at ABN Amro last week pointed to a recent reorganisation to explain its success as FX Week sister publication Risk ’s currency derivatives house of the year.
Shareholders ousted Mirek
NEW YORK -- Lori Mirek, the recently-departed chief executive of multi-bank portal Currenex, was ousted by the firms’ shareholders, FX Week has learned.
Goldman's plan pays off
NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs’ five year investment in foreign exchange is paying off, according to US banks’ financial results published last week.
Busy year ahead for FX committees
LONDON -- The forex committees of the eurozone, US and UK’s central banks will have a full agenda this year, senior officials told FX Week .
Dealers prepare for worst from gloomy bonus season
LONDON/NEW YORK -- Bonus payments in FX for 2002 could be slashed by half following a difficult year in forex, traders and recruiters told FX Week .
All change at Currenex
LONDON -- FX trading portal Currenex announced last week that the firm’s chief executive Lori Mirek has stepped down.