SNB Move on Negative Rates Sends Swiss Franc Sharply Lower

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Top Headlines

SNB Move on Negative Rates Sends Swiss Franc Sharply Lower – Reuters
The Swiss franc fell 1% against the dollar and dropped against the euro on Wednesday after the Swiss National Bank said it was reducing considerably the number of institutions exempt from negative rates on cash deposits held at the central bank.

Yuan Gets JP Morgan Imprimatur as Bank Updates Currency Indexes –Bloomberg
China’s effort to challenge the hegemony of the US dollar just got a boost from JPMorgan Chase. For the first time in 15 years, the New York-based bank increased the yuan’s weighting in its foreign exchange indexes, meanwhile lowering the dollar’s, to reflect China’s surging share in global trade.

Firm Dollar, Weak China Factory Activity Hurt Asia FX – Reuters
Most emerging Asian currencies slid on Thursday as the dollar broadly gained on solid US data and as disappointing Chinese manufacturing activity underscored concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

Ruble Ends Four-Day Rout as Russia Tax Payments Support Currency –Bloomberg
The ruble gained, ending the biggest four-day decline since January, as tax payments outweighed comments from a Russian central bank deputy governor that the world’s best currency rally this year is over.

Regulatory News

US, EU Regulators Trade Barbs Over Swaps – Wall Street Journal(subscription)
Attendees at a derivatives industry conference in Montreal on Wednesday got a front-row seat to a continuing spat between international regulators over cross-border rules for the $700 trillion global swaps market.

ISDA Study Shows Continued Fragmentation of Global Liquidity Pools
Global derivatives markets are continuing to fragment along geographic lines as a result of divergent regulations across jurisdictions, according to new research published at ISDA’s 30th Annual General Meeting in Montreal.

FSB Updates G20 on Post-Crisis Work Plans – Profit & Loss (free story)
The Financial Stability Board has provided the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Washington with an update on ongoing work to finalise post-crisis reforms, including a coordinated work plan to promote central counterparty (CCP) resilience and initiatives to make derivatives markets safer.

When the SEC Pays Your Lawyer for Informing on You, is That a Good Thing? – Forbes
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced it paid a $1 million bounty to a compliance officer who blew the whistle on his employer, the second such case where the agency has paid a company official charged with rooting out misconduct for bringing evidence of it to the SEC instead.

Company News

SocGen’s Markets Unit Heads Said to Leave Amid Overhaul – Bloomberg
Societe Generale’s Gian Luca Fetta, global head of foreign exchange, is among bankers leaving the firm amid an overhaul of its markets unit, according to people with knowledge of the review.

UBS Strengthens Compliance With 350 Additional Hires – Profit & Loss (free story)
UBS is planning to add up to 350 people to its compliance team worldwide. This is a 30% increase, bringing the number of staff in the Swiss bank’s compliance and operational risk control unit to approximately 1,500.

Deutsche Bank Sees Legal Costs €1.5 Billion in First Quarter – Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank will log €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in litigation costs in the first quarter as it nears a settlement with regulators over Libor-rigging.

Tradermade Systems Boosts Productivity With Platform Upgrade – Profit & Loss (free story)
Tradermade Systems, the market data and proprietary analytics software provider, launched an upgraded version of its Maverick charting solution in bid to further improve productivity for its clients.

Market Savvy  

Market Still Trying to Figure Out Next Move
LMAX Exchange
Currency markets are still trying to figure out the next move, with the week defined by a lot of chop thus far. Heading into the latter half of the week, it seems the Dollar has come back into favour, though at this point, it’s too tough to call. Eurozone PMIs, UK retail sales and US initial jobless claims ahead.

Press Releases

Credit Suisse Goes Live Globally on FXSpotStream as the 10th Liquidity Provider and Commences Client Trading
FXSpotStream, a wholly owned subsidiary of LiquidityMatch, has announced that Credit Suisse is now live as a liquidity providing bank to FXSpotStream’s price aggregation service from FXSpotStream’s sites in New York, London and Tokyo.

CLS’ 2014 ADV Increases by 2% to $5.1 Trillion
According to CLS’ 2014 annual report daily average volumes in the core service remained stable year-on-year at 801,000 instructions, while average daily settlement values for 2014 now stand at $5.1 trillion, up slightly from 2013.

Societe Generale Launches Collateral Management Service
Societe Generale has launched Tempo, a comprehensive and innovative collateral management outsourcing solution aimed both at buy-side and sell-side market participants, including traditional and alternative asset managers, institutional investors, banks and major corporates.

CME Group Statement With Regards to Navinder Singh Sarao Case
Nothing is more important to CME Group than the integrity of our marketplace. Following the “Flash Crash” on 6 May, 2010, together with other regulators, we did a thorough analysis of all activity in our markets during the Flash Crash, and concluded – along with regulators – that the Flash Crash was not caused by the futures market. If new information has come to light, we look forward to reviewing it with the Commission.

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