Daily FX Volumes Plunge in February After Volatile Start to Year – Reuters

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Daily FX Volumes Plunge in February After Volatile Start to Year – Reuters
Average daily volumes in the global foreign exchange market fell in February after soaring the previous month in the wake of Switzerland’s shock removal of its currency cap, data from FX settlement system CLS showed on Monday.


FX Committees to Unveil New Global Guidelines – Profit & Loss
A group of the leading FX market committees agreed upon a combined global code of conduct for the industry earlier this month, providing additional guidance around key topics such as sharing market colour and use of trading jargon.

No Room for Complacency on Euro’s Path – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
The US Federal Reserve has delivered an unpleasant jolt to one of 2015’s most popular trade ideas: the seemingly inexorable decline in the euro. Huge swings in the euro against the dollar – including a round trip from $1.06 to $1.10 and back in less than 24 hours – have shaken the market.

PMI Surveys Add to Euro Recovery – Reuters
The dollar was back under pressure on Tuesday after three days of frantic trading that have seen the first serious doubts in its nine-month march higher and some signs of more resilience around the euro.

Euro Extends Rebound on Eurozone’s Positive Data – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
The euro extended its rebound against the dollar amid signs the eurozone’s economic recovery gathered momentum in March.

Dealers Ease Stance on Naming Swap Counterparties – Reuters
Dealers could be starting to loosen their grip on the practice of revealing counterparty names on derivatives traded on swap execution platforms – an apparent reversal of sentiment that could ease the shift of over-the-counter swaps onto anonymous central limit order books, as Dodd-Frank envisaged.

SNB is Open to IMF Suggestion of Foreign Currency QE, Moser Says – Bloomberg
The Swiss National Bank is considering a form of foreign currency quantitative easing, as suggested by the International Monetary Fund.

China’s Premier asks IMF to Include Yuan in SDR Basket – Reuters
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has asked the head of the International Monetary Fund to include China’s yuan currency in its special drawing rights basket.

 

 

Regulatory News

CFTC Issues an Exemption to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Permitting US Customers to Deal Directly with Hong Kong Brokers
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an order to Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission permitting HKSFC-licensed corporations authorised to accept orders and funds directly from US customers for trading on any exchange subject to the HKSFC’s oversight without having to register with the CFTC as futures commission merchants.

UK FCA Plans Review of Dark Pools, Big Data in 2015 Agenda – Bloomberg
The UK regulator is planning a more ambitious agenda for 2015, increasing its budget by six percent as it comes under pressure to crack down on market abuse in the wake of scandals such as interest rate and currency benchmark rigging. It’s already outlined plans to examine topics including competition in investment and corporate banking, announced in February, and added a “culture” review this year.

 

 

Company News

Wells to Focus on ForexClear Under LCH.Clearnet Reshuffle – Profit & Loss
Frank Soussan has been appointed global head of LCH.Clearnet Group’s CDSClear, taking over the role from Gavin Wells who will now focus exclusively on ForexClear.

Speed Gives Way to Safety as SGX Upgrades Derivatives Market – Bloomberg
Singapore Exchange is shifting its focus from speed to safety as Southeast Asia’s biggest bourse embarks on the latest upgrade to its derivatives trading technology.

ADS Enables Orex Connectivity to Traiana, DealHub, MarkitServ and RTNS – Forex Magnates
ADS Securities, the Abu Dhabi-based global brokerage firm, announced today that it has upgraded all its FX post-trade services. The latest release of the proprietary trading technology, Orex, now offers full front-to-back connectivity, with the addition of Thomson Reuters Trade Notification, MarkitServ/Logiscope, DealHub and Traiana.

Nasdaq to Provide Trading Technology for Bitcoin Marketplace – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Nasdaq OMX Group has agreed to provide New York-based start-up Noble Markets with core technology to power a new marketplace aimed at allowing companies and institutional investors such as hedge funds to trade bitcoin and related digital-currency assets.

Ex-Rabobank Trader Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charge in US Libor Case – Reuters
Lee Stewart, a former trader at Dutch lender Rabobank pleaded guilty on Monday to US charges that he took part in a scheme to manipulate Libor, the benchmark interest rate at the centre of global investigations into misconduct at various banks.

 

 

Market Savvy  

Exchange Rates: Transatlantic Divergence
Financial Times
There are signs Europe’s economy is turning a corner, but will dollar strength curb the US recovery? Since the ECB started preparing a “quantitative easing” programme – involving €60 billion a month of purchases of public and private debt – the euro has seen its biggest year-on-year declines against the greenback since its launch in 1999. Investors are betting that the weaker euro will boost exports, reviving the eurozone’s fortunes.

 

 

Press Releases

Hotspot to Expand European Presence with Launch of London Matching Engine
Hotspot today announced plans to expand its European presence with the launch of its first Europe-based FX matching engine later this year.

FIA Issues Guide on the Development and Operation of Automated Trading Systems
The FIA’s Guide to the Development and Operation of Automated Trading Systems presents a comprehensive overview of the approaches that should be considered when building, managing, and reviewing automated trading systems.

China Construction Bank Extends Use of Catena Trace for FX Derivatives Trade Reporting Using Hosted Platform
China Construction Bank has extended its use of Catena’s Trace system to report foreign exchange derivatives to the Monetary Authority of Singapore.  Along with the extended use for FX, the bank will upgrade to Catena’s latest hosted platform solution.

FIA Releases SEF Tracker Report for January
January was a particularly active month for trading in non-deliverable currency forwards. No single week set a record, but the total volume of NDF trading over the four weeks of January was $424.8 billion, the highest four week total since FIA began tracking SEF trading.

FD Acquires ActivateClients for Software Development Capabilities
The earnings enhancing acquisition provides complementary software products, particularly HTML5 capabilities, that are expected to enhance the First Derivatives’ software platform.

 

 

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