Risk management
Cutting costs
Pat Lefler, director, product marketing, at Wall Street Systems in New York, looks at ways smaller banks could reduce their trade-processing costs and remain competitive
Citi's Alpha trumps Beta
LONDON - Citi's Alpha 1 foreign exchange investable index is outrunning its Beta 1 counterpart, as the market looks at more sophisticated investment strategies to mitigate risk amid heightened volatility.
US meltdown spurs central clearer debate
LONDON & NEW YORK - The fallout from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and implosion of insurance company AIG has spurred renewed debate over the central-counterparty model for spot foreign exchange, as concerns over counterparty risk take centre stage.
FXPB versus CCP put to the test
With concern over counterparty credit risk at such elevated levels, some question what this will ultimately mean for the smaller banks out in the market-place.
Strong Q3 for Goldman and Morgan Stanley
LONDON - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley revealed strong third-quarter performances for their currencies operations, despite analysts casting doubt over the future of both businesses as standalone investment banks.
Lehman's fall leads to liquidity drought
GLOBAL - Heightened concerns over counterparty credit risk caused a dry-up of liquidity in the currency markets last week, as dealers feared a domino effect from the collapse of Lehman Brothers on Sunday, September 14.
Fenics Enterprise takes off
NEW YORK & LONDON - GFI is today (September 22) announcing the launch of Fenics Enterprise through Fenics FX 11.1, the latest version of its pricing and risk management software.
Barings launches new currency fund
LONDON - Baring Asset Management is set to launch a currency fund that will offer an alternative source of alpha and diversification to target institutional investors and funds of hedge funds.
UBS: an FX beacon in a sea of doubt
UBS practically swept the leader board in the currency category of FX Week sister publication Risk 's 2008 interdealer survey released last week.
The post-trade value chain
Nick Dyne, head of business development at post-trade technology vendor Logicscope in London, evaluates the prospect of a 'virtual' back office
Calyon cuts back in derivatives to survive downturn
PARIS - Calyon will cut 500 jobs and pull out of the structured credit and derivatives markets as part of a plan to survive the market downturn.
Trading US inflation
Irene Aldridge, quantitative portfolio manager and managing partner at model-based trading company Able Alpha Trading in New York, outlines a high-frequency strategy to trade US inflation data
DealHub's BAM goes with the flows
LONDON - Option Computers Limited (OCL) has completed development of its business activity monitoring module (BAM), which enables users to view clients' foreign exchange trading activity.
Retail FX broker suspended in Dubai
DUBAI - The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) imposed its first-ever sanctions against a foreign exchange broker last week, sending a warning to online brokers to maintain standards when operating retail FX businesses in the city.
OCL netting gets CLS-compliant
LONDON - Options Computer Limited (OCL) has launched a new version of its year-old pre-settlement netting tool that aims to manage back-office capacity constraints and cut messaging costs, while remaining CLS-compliant.
Bombay Stock Exchange trades rupee futures
MUMBAI - The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has received approval to trade futures in rupees, as regulators continue on a path to open up the country's currency derivatives markets.
The murky side of retail forex
In these days of heightened regulatory scrutiny, Saxo Bank could take it upon itself as a pioneer of the retail foreign exchange market to more effectively monitor who is using its technology and how.
China's central bank launches forex payment system
BEIJING - China's central bank has launched a foreign exchange payment system to ease transfers between banks on behalf of corporates in the country.
Lloyds TSB expands forex solutions team
LONDON - Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets has made four hires in its corporate and institutional foreign exchange solutions team in London, as part of a continued effort to expand its risk solutions service.
Will we ever move to a fee-based model?
The competition to gain retail clients and white-label partnerships by retail trading companies and vendors is leading to more creativity in service provision.
JP Morgan live on FXSettle
CHICAGO - JP Morgan has emerged as one of the three prime broking banks using settlement system FXSettle on trading platform FXMarketSpace (FXMS).
Banks and hedge funds spur growth in OIS trading
LONDON & NEW YORK - Central bank activity has contributed towards a surge in trading overnight index swaps (OIS) over the past year, according to dealers.
Automated FX trading models provide diversified alpha
David Popplewell, director of currency structuring at RBS in London, says to look beyond carry baskets and actively managed foreign exchange allocation to generate alpha from FX