Trading
e-Mid opens to Turkey
ISTANBUL – Interbank deposit market e-Mid is to open to Turkish banks, in a bid to drive revenues and access more liquidity from this rapidly developing market.
SG CIB realigns FX business
LONDON & PARIS – SG Corporate and Investment Banking (SG CIB) plans to realign its foreign exchange business within a new fixed income, currencies and commodities division early next year.
Bloomberg revamps FX Dealing system
NEW YORK – Data and trading technology vendor Bloomberg has released a revamped version of its single and multibank request-for-quote (RFQ) system, FX Dealing.
Politics and the pound
There are parallels between Tony Blair’s current situation and the period around Margaret Thatcher’s demise when the pound crashed out of ERM, write Peter Luxton, global markets adviser, and Stuart Bennett, head of European economics at Informa Global…
First OTC rouble basket deal
LONDON – Interdealer broker GFI has completed the first interbank over-the-counter rouble basket trade. The six-month trade has a notional value of $100 million, with an at-the-money forward strike price of 29.70. The weighted ratio was 60% dollar, 40%…
Thailand coup makes little impact on baht
BANGKOK – Last week’s military coup in Thailand is unlikely to have a lasting impact on the baht, according to analysts in the region.
Old news set to leave China behind
China’s plans to delay the information flow from foreign news agencies by filtering it through Xinhua news agency is worrying, and it is likely to be counterproductive.
A capital adventure
Michael Spencer tells FX Week about how he turned Icap from a four-man business into a £3 billion FTSE 100-listed powerhouse in 20 years, and about his plans for EBS
Maintain a long Swiss franc exposure
Todd Elmer, currency strategist at Citigroup in New York, predicts an upturn in Swiss franc fortunes, and advises directional trades on EUR/CHF
Senior hires at FXMarketSpace
LONDON – FXMarketSpace, the centrally cleared forex market-place established by Reuters and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), has made four senior hires to its global management team.
FXall sees strong take-up on MM platform
LONDON – More than 65 institutions have participated on the FXall money markets platform since it was launched in June, the platform said last week.
Mixed results for US banks
NEW YORK – Low volatility in currency markets provided a challenging third quarter for US investments banks, with a mixed bag of results released last week.
New Xinhua rules intercept foreign news
BEIJING – Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government-controlled information service, has issued new rules designed to stop foreign competitors from working directly with their customers in China.
Westpac benefits from dollar resilience
Westpac is joint top of the one-month rankings because it ‘held the line on the dollar in the summer months’.
More fraud uncovered by CFTC
WASHINGTON, DC – The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has settled a forex fraud action resulting in over $2.5 million in civil penalties.
Bear builds metals business
NEW YORK – Bear Stearns has expanded its FX-aligned precious metals group to a global full-service hard-asset business through making hires and introducing product capabilities.
Merrill Lynch swoops on top Dresdner Kleinwort trio
LONDON – Merrill Lynch raided Dresdner Kleinwort last Thursday to take the bank’s most senior foreign exchange personnel.
Deutsche reorganisation sees commodities stripped from FX
LONDON – Deutsche Bank has restructured its forex capabilities, promoting global head of currencies and commodities Jim Turley to head the institutional client group.
FXdirekt expands eastern European footprint
Krefeld/Oberhausen – Online forex bank FXdirekt Bank is targeting its foreign exchange trading platform FEXtrader to Polish and Czech investors.
Merrill Lynch swoops on top Dresdner Kleinwort trio
LONDON – Merrill Lynch raided Dresdner Kleinwort last Thursday to take the bank’s most senior foreign exchange personnel.
Reset strike bonus forwards for a Korean win
David Mann, senior FX strategist, and Michael Image, senior FX structurer at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, suggest reset strike bonus forwards over plain forwards to hedge Korean won downside risks
Strategists in demand
GLOBAL – Forex strategists are en vogue this month, with a number of hires at major banks in the US and Europe.
An eye for changing drivers aids Calyon success
Calyon has held on to top-five rankings in the 12-month and 12-month historical index since mid-July. Mitul Kotecha, global head of foreign exchange research at the French bank in London, pointed to three factors underpinning its success.
ABN Amro rebuilds Swedish desk in London
LONDON – ABN Amro has re-established its multi-product Swedish coverage desk in London, as it continues to hub sales and trading in the city.