Trading
'Boiler room' retail FX fraudsters face US court for high-pressure techniques
NEW YORK – The retail foreign exchange market suffered another blow at the end of last month, as 11 men were indicted by a US court on charges of ‘boiler room’ fraud.
Asian expansion for Fimat
ASIA-PACIFIC & MIDDLE EAST – Fimat, the brokerage arm of Société Générale, is slated to use BT Radianz’ Proximity Solution in Asia to provide low-latency access to derivatives exchanges in Korea, Singapore and Japan.
MarketSpace adds more participants
CHICAGO – CME/Reuters’ joint venture FXMarketSpace has signed a second group of banks, saying this indicates widespread acceptance from market participants.
Diverging data muddies forecasts
Danske Bank’s chief strategist Teis Knuthsen, said the technical and fundamental models the bank integrates to forecast FX has recently turned up opposing data.
BIS: debt now bigger problem than inflation
BASEL – The main structural threat to global economic growth is no longer runaway inflation, but a slower rebalancing of excess debt, according to a working paper released by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
BarCap joins algo bandwagon
LONDON – Barclays Capital (BarCap) has joined a select group of banks that has started offering algorithmic trading for forex over their single-bank platforms.
BarCap enhances white-labelling
LONDON & MOUNTAIN VIEW – Barclays Capital has enhanced its white-label offering, signing an agreement with California-based Integral.
FXMarketSpace builds Americas sales force
LONDON – Forex trading platform FXMarketSpace has appointed Phillip Harris as senior vice-president and head of sales, Americas, as it continues to add staff ahead of its launch.
Black clouds over the greenback
David Woo, head of global FX strategy at Barclays Capital in London, looks at the threats to the US dollar from Chinese trade and a weak housing market
Rabobank becomes EBS Prime bank
LONDON – Rabobank has become the latest institution to join spot broker EBS’ Prime initiative as a prime bank.
FXCM’s sentiment index pays off
Online trading firm FXCM has emerged in the top five for the 12-month year-to-date index by paying more credence to sentiment, volatilities and converging interest rates.
New talent thin on the ground
LONDON – Banks are struggling to attract junior FX derivatives staff according to banks and headhunters.
Bank of America adds to ETS
Bank of America is enhancing its suite of e-trading capabilities to include live options execution, improved pricing and risk management among other new features.
IB&T stays bullish on greenback
Investors Bank & Trust (IB&T) continues to go against consensus view by maintaining a bullish stance on the dollar. Market expectations for a decline in the dollar have been fuelled by further weak data from the US.
CME names first market-makers for Korea futures contracts
SEOUL – The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has announced the selection of five banks as the first market-makers for CME Korean won futures contracts.
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