The country’s entrepreneurs are increasingly drawing on private bankers’ skills as they seek out new sources of income and ways to pass on wealth to younger family members.

A central securities depository, liberalization of the local bond market, movement to T+2 settlement and a stock exchange merger – it’s all very welcome in Russia’s capital markets. But work remains to be done if its infrastructure is to catch up with its peers.

The IMF/World Bank meetings in Tokyo produced nothing of note in terms of concerted action to counter the global financial and economic crisis.

Restrictions and outright bans on short-selling shares, government bonds and credit derivatives were applied across Europe on November 1.

The FX market should expect the cost of high-frequency trading (HFT) to increase if an EU parliament committee vote on a key piece of markets legislation on Wednesday eventually becomes law, say participants at an FX industry conference in London.

As bankers pack their bags and head to Tokyo for the annual IMF/World Bank meetings, the outlook for many is growing gloomier.

The country has the potential to cement its position as the world’s leading centre for Islamic finance, but a lack of standardization is causing problems, particularly for international expansion.

The clock has begun ticking on granting the US an exemption from clearing and trading rules for FX swaps and forwards, after the release of the CFTC's product definitions on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives last week. EU regulators have said they need to look at what this means for an EU exemption.

MarketPrizm, the market data and trading infrastructure provider, has started an FX service, PrizmFx, as it seeks to take advantage of growing interest in FX and the need for faster connectivity to market liquidity.

Two years ago, Deutsche Bank beat a host of rival suitors to secure the services of China rainmaker Henry Cai. His task: to make the bank punch harder in the lucrative Asian equities business. Progress has been made, but does Deutsche have what it takes to reach the summit in Asia?

EuromoneyFXNews reviews Tradeweb’s FX options matching platform, which was launched earlier this year and is the latest electronic platform to enter the multi-dealer FX derivatives space.

Deutsche Bank is not alone in discovering that a dash for assets can lead to a lingering headache.

Derivatives dominance spells doom; Mifid undermines traditional model

Lobbying intensifies over OTFs; Isda, BBA voice concern

European cash market problems are catalysed by lack of transparency, says senior credit flow trading expert

China’s massive foreign exchange stockpiles dropped for the first time in more than a decade in the final quarter of last year, as fears over global growth and a slowdown in Chinese growth prompted investors to pull money out of the country.

Foreign exchange provides the best return on equity of any capital markets business. To drive more volume through their franchises, banks need a successful prime brokerage business. For RBS, it holds the key to making up lost ground in foreign exchange.

The pat excuse for volatility striking markets in August is that the investment heavyweights are on the beach. Not so Alan Brown. The chief investment officer of Schroders met Euromoney as panic turned to hysteria. Brown believes these are among the most treacherous markets he has ever experienced, but finds a few boltholes for investors brave enough to be contrarians, writes Andrew Capon.

Hirander Misra, chief executive officer of software vendor Algo Technologies, has left his post to pursue freelance high-frequency trading consultancy work. He will remain on the firm’s board as a director.

The flurry of deals among stock exchanges is a fight for relevance in a world in which regulation and technology have lowered barriers to entry. It is a battle the London Stock Exchange lost many years ago.

Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext create powerhouse; Competitive playing field not level

On Thursday London was replete with regulatory discussion as it hosted AFME’s sixth annual ‘Market Liquidity’ conference and also the ACI UK Square Mile Debate on the theme of regulation within currency markets.

New categories of participants, electronic trading and the use of algorithms have had profound effects on liquidity and pricing in the FX market, which now offer a real opportunity to manage macro events.

North Korea. Zimbabwe. Tunisia. Algeria. Iraq. Pakistan. Egypt. It’s a list of the world’s flashpoints. And they’re all part of Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris’s unique telecoms empire. So when his Orascom group needed financing, and then sought a buyer, it presented Sawiris’s advisers with a unique set of challenges. Eric Ellis tells the fascinating story of corporate finance in the new world order.

New rules boost transparency; Goldman launches MTF

Cairn boss breaches protocol; Vedanta struggling to raise cash

Moves to curb supposed speculation on futures exchanges are pointless populism, as commodity price spikes reflect physical market supply/demand factors.

EU tracks US derivatives regulation with a time lag; Barnier sets regulatory sight on commodities markets

Although working to slightly different timetables, Europe’s new proposed regulations on derivatives are broadly in line with those of the US. Indeed, both sets of regulators are working to the same template, set out by the G20 at its Pittsburgh summit in September last year, which promised to advance tough new financial market regulations, including taking steps to make the opaque over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market far more transparent. The European Commission said its regulations would be largely consistent with those of the US and in line with the objectives outlined by the G20. The G20 leaders set a deadline of the end of 2012 for participants to move all standardized OTC derivative contracts onto exchanges or electronic trading platforms, where appropriate, and clear trades through central counterparties.

Lab49 is a consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and advanced technology solutions for the financial services industry. Kenan Maciel is a director in the Lab49 strategy group. In this guest post he surveys the possible regulatory outcomes for FX derivatives and the potential impact on FX trading from the banks’ perspective.