Trading
One up, three down at Citi
NEW YORK & LONDON - Citi's global head of electronic execution has been made redundant and cuts have been made to the foreign exchange sales team in London, as part of the bank's drive to reduce headcount globally.
MarketFactory Whisperer closer to launch
LONDON & NEW YORK - MarketFactory's Whisperer product is being beta-tested by a group of clients made up of banks and funds, James Sinclair, chief executive of the financial technology firm in New York, has told FX Week. He expects the first client to go…
New SocGen platform targets active traders
LONDON - Société Générale is set to launch a new foreign exchange trading platform in January, in a move to increase its presence among institutional clients.
SocGen bolsters London FX team
LONDON - Société Générale has boosted its foreign exchange outfit in London with the addition of two former Lehman Brothers staff.
CLS on shaky ground with third-party providers
Just as the front office begins to show signs of support for CLS, there's now doubt over commitment from the utility's third-party service providers, with at least one rumoured to be scaling back.
Sterling plummets as BoE dithers
CMC Markets topped this week's one-month forecast rankings by predicting a weaker sterling based on a perceived delay in interest rates cuts by the Bank of England (BoE).
Traders shift focus to recession
LONDON - Traders are reporting a slowdown in foreign exchange activity and a focus shift towards global recession fears as the market approaches year-end.
Bloomberg Tradebook back on track
NEW YORK - Bloomberg Tradebook is this week re-launching its foreign exchange electronic communications network after suffering up to eight weeks of outage as it sought to replace AIG as its central clearer.
More crisis casualties
LONDON - Morgan Stanley, Citi and Deutsche Bank have all announced thousands of global job cuts in response to the market dislocation, with foreign exchange teams unavoidably in the firing line.
Industry pushes to expand CLS coverage
LONDON - Panellists at the FX Week Europe Congress held in London last week applauded CLS for its role in alleviating settlement risk, but pushed for expansion to cover more counterparties, currencies and products.
Trouble ahead in emerging EMEA
Nick Chamie , head of emerging markets research at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto, analyses the results of the bank's latest Financial Risk Scorecard, and finds there are tough times ahead for the Baltic states
Algos 'point inwards' amid low liquidity
LONDON - There will be greater internalisation of flow as banks search for liquidity, according to a panel discussing algorithmic trading developments at last week's FX Week Europe Congress.
Retail FX benefits as traders go DIY
LONDON - The retail foreign exchange revolution could benefit from reduced headcounts within the financial services industry, according to Mark Davison, vice-president of pro-sales at Forex Capital Markets (FXCM).
Risk aversion still 'dominant theme'
Rabobank took top spot in FX Week 's one-month currency forecast rankings this week with a view that a continuation of investor deleveraging would keep the US dollar strong.
Fisher: FX will slow down to assess risk
LONDON - Activity in the foreign exchange market will "pull back" over the next couple of years, while risk management will become a key focus for the industry, according to Paul Fisher, London-based head of the FX and reserves management division at the…
'Veneer of homogeneity' hides cross-asset minefield
LONDON - Cross-asset electronic trading is still underdeveloped, according to Jeremy Smart, global head of electronic foreign exchange sales at Morgan Stanley.
Forex contends with great expectations
The foreign exchange industry is set for a shake-out next year as re-pricing of risk forces change in the make-up of the industry.
Market risk brings client relationships to the fore
LONDON - Relationship pricing has become key for banks, reflecting the increase in market risk, according to panellists at last week's FX Week Europe Congress in London.
Canadian dollar draws nervous participants
The Royal Bank of Canada and ANZ took top honours in their domestic markets, reflecting the health of the dealers versus global rivals in these currencies.
UBS shines as CLS provider during turmoil
UBS took home the accolade for the best third-party CLS provider, in a year that has tested the model's basic premise.
Gu appointment casts shadow over BoA FX
LONDON & NEW YORK - David Gu has been slated to head rates and currencies following the merger of Merrill Lynch and Bank of America (BoA), throwing into doubt the future of the BoA foreign exchange team, say market sources.
UBS wins with front-to-back approach
UBS has retained its number one position as the best bank for foreign exchange prime brokerage in this year's FX Week Best Bank Awards. Deutsche and Citi followed in second and third places respectively.
Icap adds new functionalities to EBS Spot
LONDON & SINGAPORE - Interdealer broker Icap is rolling out new features on its foreign exchange electronic trading platform, EBS Spot, this Saturday (November 22), officials told FX Week .