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?

Fine line between hedge and prop trade; JPMorgan loses credibility

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

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

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

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.

Gary Gensler is on a mission to make the CFTC the world’s most influential financial markets regulator. He wields an unprecedented mandate to interpret the statute book and thereby shape the future of banking. But his former colleagues in the banking industry claim his quest for power is based on personal ambition, causing him to ride roughshod over their reasonable opinions and creating a template that will bring unnecessary hardship to the financial industry and the broader economy. Hamish Risk interviewed the man many bankers call the “most dangerous man in finance”.

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.

During Korn Chatikavanij’s walkabout in Samut Sakhon, a tough fishing town a few hours west of Bangkok, security is light for such a high-profile minister of state at this difficult and dangerous time for his country.

At the annual Mansion House dinner on Wednesday George Osborne signalled the closure of the FSA and the transfer of its responsibilities to “a new prudential regulator, which will operate as a subsidiary of the Bank of England.”

Shariah banking is becoming big business in Southeast Asia, with Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta battling for the title of regional Islamic finance centre. But even the most optimistic bankers fear further expansion could be stymied by arcane regulation and lack of cross-border consensus. Eric Ellis reports.

Regulators and legislators are rattling their sabres about the demise of privately negotiated derivatives markets. End users – especially corporates – and some on the sell side are not sure they have weighed up the situation appropriately. Hamish Risk reports.

Barclays’ strong performance earns its chief the right to be heard; Varley defends the universal bank model.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the changing nature of the interbank market, liquidity has returned to most corners of foreign exchange. But uncertainties remain over quantitative easing, Japan and the recovery. The panel gathered at the end of 2009 to find we are still in uncharted territory.