Trading
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.
More regional differentiation in 2007, says Société Générale CIBM
Expect more regional differentiation next year, said Adrian Hughes, currency strategist at Société Générale CIBM (Corporate and Investment Bank) in London.
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.
Strong activity continues as dollar slides
GLOBAL – Last week again saw big moves in the major currency pairs as traders capitalised on a weaker dollar to make much-needed trading gains.
More top changes at BoA
LONDON & NEW YORK – Bank of America (BoA) is undertaking a further restructuring of its senior FX management team, as the bank seeks to drive its growth to the next level.
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.
Positive factors supporting the pound
Barclays Capital (BarCap) has adjusted its sterling view to align with its position on the greenback, on advice from recent Bank of England hire, Paul Robinson.
Preparing for a return to volatility
Persistently low levels of volatility have made it tough to trade the currency markets since late august. Simon Derrick, head of currency strategy at Bank of New York in London, investigates whether the past few months have been anomalous, and how to…
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.
Deutsche Bank adopts latest version of Reuters Messaging
FRANKFURT – Deutsche Bank is currently working on migrating to the upcoming version 6 of Reuters Messaging (RM), which is due for release next month, according to officials at the vendor.
Relief for traders as volatility returns
LONDON – Last week saw unexpectedly large moves in the dollar/yen and euro/dollar as traders welcomed a pre-Christmas build-up in volatility after a year of flat markets.
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.