Top Headlines
Loose Lips and FX Tips: How Chats Cost Banks $1.2 Billion – Bloomberg (subscription)
Talk may be cheap, but in currency traders’ chatrooms, at least, improper messages can be very expensive for their companies.
Emerging Market Currencies Suffer Worst Week Since 2018 Lira Crisis – Financial Times (subscripton)
China’s offshore renminbi has weakened to its lowest level since November on escalated trade tensions, in the worst week for emerging market currencies since the Turkish lira crisis last summer.
FX: Corporate Hedging Goes Forwards – and Backwards – Euromoney
While all the conditions for increased corporate enthusiasm for foreign exchange hedging appear to be in place, uneven demand suggests lack of consensus on how best to manage currency volatility.
Banks to Invest Around $50 Million in Digital Cash Settlement Project – Sources – Reuters
Several of the world’s largest banks are in the process of investing around $50 million to create a digital cash system using blockchain technology to settle financial transactions, according to people familiar with the plans.
Regulatory News
Mifid II Critics Are Not Seeing the Big Picture – Financial Times (subscription)
The Mifid II rules are leading to broader participation in capital markets by Europe’s savers. This will far outweigh the costs, such as the more reduced investment research on small stocks. Recent criticism appears to overlook the broader picture, where the advantages of this revision are starting to become visible.
EU Trio Tries to Quicken Drive to More Integrated Capital Markets – Financial Times (subscription)
France, Germany and the Netherlands have issued a joint call for more integrated capital markets in Europe, warning that Brexit had left the bloc facing “an urgent strategic issue”.
Wall Street Pay Proposal Being Negotiated by SEC, Bank Regulator – Bloomberg (subscription)
The latest effort to impose restrictions on Wall Street bonuses is advancing as key regulators review a draft of new limits, according to Joseph Otting, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
ISDA Publishes Two Consultations on Benchmark Fallbacks – ISDA
ISDA has launched two new consultations on benchmark fallbacks – one covering adjustments that would apply to fallback rates in the event certain interbank offered rates (IBORs) are permanently discontinued, and another relating to pre-cessation issues for LIBOR and certain other IBORs.
Crypto News
Bitcoin Tumbles as Stellar Run for Digital Tokens Loses Footing – Bloomberg (subscription)
Bitcoin slumped Friday bringing this month’s spirited surge to a halt and taking rival coins down with it. The downdraft came after the world’s largest digital currency more than doubled in 2019, with many participants struggling to pinpoint reasons for the rally.
Seed CX Launches Three Stablecoins – Profit & Loss
Seed CX has launched three stablecoins, PAX, USD Coin and TrueUSD, on its digital asset exchange.
A Cornell University Crypto Professor Is Launching His Own Coin – Bloomberg (subscription)
Emin Gun Sirer, one of the higher-profile academic experts on blockchain technologies, is launching his own cryptocurrency coin and network with funding from some of the biggest venture capitalists in the field.
Company News
Tradepoint’s ‘All-You-Can-Eat’ Pricing Model Challenges FX Algo Market – FX Week (subscription)
New York-based financial technology firm Tradepoint has come up with a new product that employs a flat-rate charging model to challenge the FX market algorithm space.
Cobalt Reveals Pricing Model – Profit & Loss
Cobalt has published its core pricing and has committed to not increase prices in the future without client approval.
Cusack Swaps Citi for Deutsche Bank – Profit & Loss
Paul Cusack has joined Deutsche Bank’s FX prime brokerage (FXPB) team in London. Hired as a director, Cusack will report into Dave Reid, managing director, global head of FXPB at the bank.
Buy-Side Trading Q&A: BlackRock – Markets Media
BlackRock won Best Global Trading Team at the 2019 Markets Choice Awards. Markets Media spoke with Supurna VedBrat, head of global trading at BlackRock, to learn more.
Market Savvy
Sterling Near Four-Month Low with Brexit Deal Teetering – Reuters
Sterling traded below $1.28 on Friday, close to its four-month low, as cross-party Brexit talks neared collapse and pressure mounted on Prime Minister Theresa May to resign.
Yen Gains as Euro and Yuan Troubled By European Vote and Trade – Reuters
The Japanese yen strengthened on Friday, attracting safe-haven buying due to lingering concerns among investors about trade tensions and impending European Parliament elections.
Deutsche Bank’s Lucky Number 7 – Financial Times (subscription)
If you follow FX markets closely, here’s a story you’ve read before: investment bank analysts are calling for the Chinese renminbi, or yuan, to break the “crucial” 7 mark versus the dollar. This time it’s Deutsche Bank taking a hop, skip and a jump down a path which has ruined many a market wizard over the past half-decade.
It’s All Starting to Look Glum for the Australian Dollar – Bloomberg (subscription)
Australia’s dollar is under siege from an upcoming election, a trade war and a faltering economy.