Top Headlines

Hayes Sentence Hangs Over FX Trader Tribunals – Profit & Loss

The 14-year jail sentence handed down to Tom Hayes over his role in the Libor scandal has sent shockwaves through the FX market as several traders now face tribunals over their role in the WMR Benchmark Fix scandal.

Should FX Swings Affect Incentive Compensation? – Profit & Loss

Deloitte has released a paper looking at whether FX swings should affect incentive compensation for management staff at corporate firms.

FX: The Store That Closes When It’s Busiest – Financial News (subscription)

The foreign exchange markets are famously the most liquid in the world, with $5 trillion or more being traded each day. But, increasingly, when that liquidity is most needed it has a tendency to vanish, with markets freezing and leaving investors unable to trade.

Will Three be a Crowd in Singapore? – The Trade News

After conquering their respective domestic markets, Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and German trading venue Eurex have landed in Asia, each armed with a clearing house.

Banks Swaps Headlock Slips and Chicago Prop Firms Join SEFs – Risk (subscription)

HTG, Teza and TransMarket emerge as would-be providers of swaps liquidity.

IMF’s Currency Reservations Send China’s Yuan Lower – Wall Street Journal

A statement from the International Monetary Fund on the prospects for granting China’s yuan new international status cast doubt among investors, stoking concerns over reforms in the exchange rate and the government’s ability to maintain its tight grip on the currency’s value.

CME, CFETS partner to help open China’s swaps market – SNL News

The China Foreign Exchange Trade System and CME Group announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a U.S.-based joint venture. The partnership positions CME to help open up China’s derivatives markets.

Regulatory News

SEC Adopts Registration Rules for Security-Based Swap Dealers and Major Security-Based Swap Participants

The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted new rules to provide a comprehensive, efficient process for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants to register with the SEC.

CFTC aims to slash delays in swap submissions to CCPs – Risk.net (subscription)

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking at cracking down on swaps-confirmation practices that cause long delays in the submission of derivative trades to clearinghouses. The use of affirmation services confirming transaction details before a central counterparty clears the trade is at the root of the delays.

Are We Changing Our Minds About Banks and Bankers? – BBC News

As UK Chancellor George Osborne presses for change at the City’s watchdog after sacking its chief, Martin Wheatley, cuts back a key tax on banks, and starts selling the government’s stake in Royal Bank of Scotland, are things now finally looking up for our financial institutions?

Company News

Leucadia Writes Down FXCM Value – Profit & Loss

In its second quarter financial filing Leucadia National Corporation has reduced the value of its loan to FXCM to $759 million from $947 million, however it remains significantly above the value of the original $300 million loan.

FX Trading Helps Drive Moscow Exchange Q2 Results – Profit & Loss

The Moscow Exchange’s net profits increased 72.8% year-on-year to RUB 6.0 billion and EBITDA grew 66% y-o-y for the second quarter as income from FX increased by 32.5% y-o-y.

ICE Posts Strong Financials; FX Monthly Volumes Drop – Profit & Loss

The Intercontinental Exchange has posted strong Q2 and H1 results, although average daily volumes (ADV) in FX were down 37.7% in July.

SGX to Go Live on Nasdaq Index Tool This Year – FOW (subscription)

Nasdaq’s new index system is nearing the end of testing with anchor exchange the Singapore Exchange (SGX), with the Asian group set to go live on the service by the end of 2015.

Market Savvy  

Emerging Market Currencies Slump Deepens – Bloomberg

Scotiabank senior currency strategist, Sacha Tihanyi, discusses emerging market currencies and the impact a hike in the US interest rates will have on the currency market.

‘Super Thursday’ to Offer Signal on UK Rate Outlook – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Bank of England watchers are bracing themselves for an unusually large barrage of information Thursday that should offer fresh clues as to when officials are likely to raise interest rates.

The Odds of a September Rate Hike Have Surged in the Last Two Days – Bloomberg

Likelihood of Fed September rate increase tops 50 percent.

Press Releases

Quantifying CTA Risk Management Expertise

A new white paper by CTA Campbell & Company and authored by Kathryn Kaminski, the firm’s director of investment strategies, seeks to quantify CTA risk management by defining four risk management factors: liquidity, correlation, volatility, and capacity.

Industry Events