Top Headlines
The Financial Conduct Authority said on Wednesday that it has banned former Deutsche Bank AG trader Michael Ross Curtler for his part in a conspiracy to manipulate the bank’s U.S. dollar Libor submissions.
Currency Volatility Drops to 1-Month Low as Economic Data Shift – Bloomberg
Foreign-exchange volatility fell to the lowest in a month as U.S. economic data assuaged concern about a slowdown in the world’s largest economy.
China’s Other Growth Figure is Flashing a Warning – Bloomberg
Obscured by the focus on the accuracy of China’s growth figures is a tumble in estimates for the economy without adjusting for inflation — a slide that gives a clearer picture of why the country’s slowdown has stoked rising concern about its debt burden.
Switzerland Fights Uphill Battle Against Strong Franc – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
For many advanced economies, economic growth just under 1% is pretty pedestrian. Not so in Switzerland, where a huge rise in the value of its currency threatened to upend the export-dependent economy.
Regulatory News
Fed’s Williams Says ‘Gradual’ is Key Message on Rate Hikes – Reuters
San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams said Wednesday that the key message from the U.S. central bank is that interest-rate hikes will be “gradual.”
Indonesia Central Bank Sets Rules for Islamic Forex – Nikkei News
Indonesia’s central bank has issued new rules authorizing shariah-compliant hedging in the country, citing the rapid growth of Islamic foreign exchange transactions and the rupiah’s volatility.
Russia C.Bank Says Ready for Currency Swaps with People’s Bank of China – Reuters
Russia’s central bank said on Wednesday its mechanism for bilateral currency swaps with the People’s Bank of China was ready for use after successful testing.
Company News
Treasurers Cite Visibility of FX Exposures as Key Concern – Profit & Loss
A lack of visibility of FX exposure and reliability of forecasts is the most common challenge facing corporate treasurers, according to a new survey from Deloitte.
FX Veteran Busay Joins Mountain Pacific Group – Profit & Loss
Eric Busay has joined Mountain Pacific Group in Seattle as a senior investment officer.
FastMatch, Hotspot Volumes Hold Steady in February – Profit & Loss
Volumes on FastMatch and Hotspot were little changed in February compared to the previous month, but significantly up year-on-year.
EBS Feb Volumes Show YoY Improvement – Profit & Loss
ICAP today released February volumes for EBS, showing a slight decline from January, but up year-on-year, echoing similar annual improvements released by other platforms in recent days.
Exchanges Post Strong YoY FX Volumes Growth – Profit & Loss
February figures released by CME Group and the Moscow Exchange (Moex) indicate strong year-on-year volume growth, despite being marginally down from January’s ‘bounceback’.
Nippon Life CIO: May Buy More European Debt, U.S. corporate bonds – Reuters
Nippon Life Insurance Co, Japan’s biggest private life insurer, will likely have no choice but to increase currency-hedged foreign bond investments as domestic bond yields have sunk to negative levels, a top official said.
Market Savvy
Navigating Risks in the Global Currency Market – Bloomberg
Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist at RBC, and George Bory, head of credit strategy at Wells Fargo, discuss the unknowns and risks of the currency market and corporations’ increasing cost of borrowing.
Latam Currencies Extend Gains on China Hopes – Reuters
Latin American currencies extended recent gains on Wednesday as continuing hopes of economic stimulus in China offset volatility in oil prices.
Danish FX Intervention Continued in February – Danske Bank
Denmark’s FX reserve fell to DKK422bn in February, following DKK8.4bn of FX intervention by Danmarks Nationalbank (DN).
Yen Weakens as Investors Unwind Haven Bets amid Stock Rally – Bloomberg
The yen fell against all its major counterparts as improving U.S. economic data and a recovery in oil prices damped demand for safer assets.
Potential Pain for Long JPY Exposure – BNP Paribas
JPY portfolio outflows are accelerating. Overnight Japanese Ministry of Finance (MoF) portfolio flow data indicated domestic Japanese investors bought JPY 933.8bn and 382.3bn of foreign bonds and stocks respectively last week.
Press Releases
Moscow Exchange Announces Results for the Full Year 2015
Moscow Exchange (MOEX) today announces its financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the year ended 31 December 2015. Higher trading volumes on the FX, Bonds and Money Markets, as well as increased interest income coupled with strict cost control, helped the Exchange to deliver record financial results.
BCV Differentiates its e-FX offering with SmartTrade Technologies
SmartTrade Technologies, a multi-asset electronic trading solutions pioneer, announces today that Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV), a Swiss cantonal bank, has released a new hosted FX solution to trade Spot, Forward, Swaps and Precious Metals based on smartTrade’s LiquidityFX.
Industry Events
FX Post-Trade: Ripping Off the Band-Aid, 8 March, Profit & Loss/Markit Webinar
FX Week Australia, 10 March in Sydney, Australia
FIA: Boca 2016, 15-18 March in Boca Raton, FL
FOW: Derivatives World, 12-13 April in Hong Kong
FX Week FX Invest North America, 12 April in Boston, MA
Profit & Loss Forex Network London, 14 April in London, UK
Profit & Loss Latin America, 20 April in Mexico City
ACI World Congress 2016 – Indonesia, 26-30 April, Jakarta
Eurofinance: Asia Treasury, 18-20 May in Singapore
Profit & Loss Forex Network New York, 26 May, New York City
FIA: IDX 2016, 7-8 June in London, England
Profit & Loss Scandinavia, TBD September, Copenhagen
Profit & Loss Forex Network Chicago, 28-29 September, Chicago, IL
Sibos 2016, 26-29 September in Geneva, Switzerland
FIA: Expo, 18-20 October in Chicago, IL