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HSBC has appointed Chris Peters as its head of FX sales, Americas. Peters will be responsible for distribution of the full range of foreign exchange products to the HSBC client base in the region. Peters joined HSBC in 2002 after a 12-year stint at JPMorgan. Meanwhile, Felipe Leitao has been promoted to run HSBC’s offshore LatAm FX trading business.

Tim Chapman has apparently quit his role in hedge fund sales at HSBC London for a job in Singapore.

JPMorgan Chase has confirmed that it has hired Peter Klein, once of Saxo, is its new global head of FX prime brokerage and that James Lofthouse has left his role in hedge fund/real money to go to Citi London.

Mike Peacock is rumoured to have resurfaced (see Peacock struts out of Barclays) after his recent departure from Barclays. Société Générale is said to be the favourite to capture him, although another French bank might be in the running for his expertise in FX real money sales.

Kai ‘Lucky’ Herbert, who left Bank of America in January 2008 to join Merrill Lynch, has decided to seek his fortune elsewhere. Apparently he left the combined bank to go to UBS in Zurich and trade emerging market currencies.

Is this decoupling that we behold? An L-shaped recession for the USA and something approaching a V for the rest of the world may be in the making.

News that Tom Gillie had left his role at Credit Suisse in Singapore, supposedly to head back to Canada, has prompted several readers to call in. Most of them have, as is normal, told me that the reason why Gillie left has nothing to do with a lack of recognition at Credit Suisse, but everything to do with the lure of a bigger role. The buzz is that he is joining Bank of America/Merrill Lynch in a global position.

I hope the bank enjoys its spot in the limelight, because fame is transient.

The International Securities Exchange (ISE), the world’s largest equity options exchange and a wholly owned subsidiary of Eurex, has launched FX Options TV in partnership with Trading Central New York Financial Press (NYFP). Produced by NYFP and hosted by currency expert Remy Blaire, FX Options TV is a weekly online programme that focuses on macro-economic events and long-term analysis of the global currency markets. It also features Trading Central’s independent views on the psychological and technical factors driving the industry.

The IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), home of the dollar index and other FX contracts, has implemented a block trading facility for most of its products for eligible parties. This includes, among others, futures commission merchants, floor brokers and traders, broker dealers, financial institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, commodity pools, investment companies and high net-worth individuals who satisfy certain criteria. According to a source at ICE, FX trades that meet the block thresholds can now be done bilaterally and sent to ICE for clearing at no extra cost above the normal transaction charges.

A research report commissioned by UK broker Moneycorp shows, depressingly, that when it comes to managing FX exposure, many company finance directors are clueless. The research, carried out by Vanson Bourne, canvassed 500 bosses. As well as highlighting a lack of confidence in sterling, more worryingly it found that, “those responsible for managing overseas trading within businesses appear to have insufficient knowledge of how currency fluctuations can affect profits. A third (30%) of finance directors acknowledged that a lack of understanding of currency risk had had a negative impact on the bottom line, and over a quarter (26%) of those were large businesses, trading an average of £2.7 million a year.”

Retail participation in FX options has undoubtedly lagged that of spot. However, many remain optimistic that the sector offers rich potential, including Saxo Bank. It has just added a product called FX Options Board to its Saxo Trader platform. The intention is to offer standardised dates and strike increments, which the bank believes will encourage liquidity and therefore tighter pricing.