Top Headlines
Foreign Exchange Revenue Boosts Trading Growth in Q2 – American Banker (subscription)
Bank trading revenue in the second quarter rose by more than 25% from a year earlier to $6.9 billion on rising combined interest rate and foreign exchange revenue, according a report issued by the Officer of the Comptroller of the Currency.
EBS FX Volumes Bounce Off 2016 Lows, Highlighting Strong September – Finance Magnates
Treasuries and FX volumes each notched sizable gains in September, easily besting their August counterparts.
CME Group’s Volumes Sees Across-the-Board Rise in September, FX Explodes MoM – Finance Magnates
CME Group’s September volumes notched a sizable turnaround, led by FX contracts which soared 53% MoM.
EU Sets Out New Rules For Handling Clearing House Failures – Reuters
All clearing houses for securities trading in the European Union will be required to comply with new rules aimed at managing their financial collapse in a way which does not jeopardise the smooth working of markets, a draft EU law seen by Reuters showed.
Is the Pound Headed for Parity vs US Dollar and Euro? – Sydney Morning Herald
The British pound took another bludgeoning on fears over Britain’s looming “hard” exit from the European Union and analysts predict the currency’s slide isn’t over.
- Best Euro to Pound Exchange Rate Since 2011, and More Gains Are Forecast – Pound Sterling Live
- Euro Makes Broad Gains, Rises to Five-Year High Against Sterling – Reuters
Asked About Sterling, PM May Says British Economy is Strong – Reuters
Prime Minister Theresa May said that Britain’s economy was strong with more positive growth rates than some had expected and, when asked about the fall in sterling, added that currencies “of course go up and down”.
Survey: SMEs Struggle with FX Volatility – Profit & Loss
Managing FX volatility is the most common problem facing small and medium enterprises when making international payments, according to a new survey from Afex.
Bonds Fall, Euro Trims Drop as Tapering Bets Roil Global Markets – Bloomberg
Fresh reminders that central banks may be starting to map their retreat from extraordinary stimulus measures sent a shock wave through markets, roiling bonds, currencies and equities.
IMF’s Christine Lagarde Says Banks Will Adopt Digital Currencies in 5 Years’ Time – Coin Telegraph
It was not more than three years ago that the establishment icons of the world like the Wall Street Journal and the International Monetary Fund were wholly ignoring Bitcoin and the world of digital currency.
Big Banks Consider Digital Currencies on Distributed Ledgers – Waters Technology (subscription)
The allure of creating a digital currency with distributed-ledger technology has continued to grow as financial firms gain a better understanding of how the complex technology works.
Icap’s Future Reflects Derivatives Market in Transition – Financial Times (subscription)
A clubby world transformed by a mix of heavy regulation, poor industry economics and technology.
Does Brexit Threaten London’s Euro-Clearing? – FOW (subscription)
There are three primary factors that will influence London’s future as a Euro-clearing centre: liquidity, perceived financial stability issues and politics.
Regulatory News
Global central banks increased their holdings of British pounds 2.4% during the second quarter to an all-time high of $352.1 billion, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.
Lack of Regulatory Clarity on Key Issues Hampers Preparation – FX Week (subscription)
Despite booming business, technology vendors find clients struggle to say what they need to comply with coming rules.
Data Providers Wrestle With Systematic Internaliser Status – Risk (subscription)
Covering 80% of venues is considered enough to approximate total market size under MiFID II.
Fintech Won’t Threaten Central Banks, For Now: Bank of Japan Official – Reuters
Digital currencies won’t topple hard money printed by central banks any time soon, particularly in countries such as Japan with a solid, established financial infrastructure, a senior Bank of Japan official said.
Rupee Firms Up On Surprise RBI Rate Cut – Times of India
In the first monetary policy review under RBI Governor Urjit Patel, the repo rate was slashed by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent in a unanimous decision by the new rate-setting panel, or MPC.
Company News
Slumping Sterling Deepens Divide Between Brexit Winners and Losers – The Australian
Sterling’s Brexit slide is deepening a divide between winners and losers among British companies, with big multinationals and exporters largely benefiting, and importers — and many consumers — suffering from higher costs.
TP-Icap Names Executive Committee Members – Profit & Loss
Tullett Prebon has named its global executive committee in anticipation of a successful completion of its deal to acquire Icap’s hybrid broking and information business later this year.
Moscow Increases Clearing Default Fund by a Half – FOW (subscription)
The Moscow Exchange has increased the default fund of its central counterparty NCC Clearing Bank to RUB 9.5 billion (£119 million) up from RUB 6.5 billion.
Market Savvy
Commodity-Nation Currencies Rise on Renewed Investor Confidence – Nikkei Asian Review
The currencies of Russia and other major resource-exporting countries have made notable gains in recent weeks as investors’ appetite for risk has improved, but the market will have new US jobs data to chew on this week.
LatAm Stocks, Currencies Seesaw on Higher Oil, Fed Jitters – Reuters
Most Latin American stocks and currencies seesawed on Tuesday as investors reacted to local issues as well as rising oil prices and uncertainty over US monetary policy.
Traders Unwind Short Mexican Peso Trades as Gold, Stocks Fall – Bloomberg
Investors who were shorting the Mexican peso to offset their long asset positions are now unwinding their trades, according to investor Mark Dow, as hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials pushed assets from gold to stocks down.