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Andre Esteves has quit his role as global head of fixed income, commodities and currencies (FICC) at UBS, the troubled Swiss investment bank.

The Options Industry Council has stepped up its promotion of options trading to asset managers on the heels of sponsoring a study that proved that collaring PowerShares QQQ exchange-traded fund strategies with options optimized returns.

FX awards: photos from the event

Read the views of Zar Amrolia, managing director, global finance and FX, Deutsche Bank; Dan O’Sullivan, head of global FX trading, UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking; Gerhard Seebacher, head of rates and currencies, Bank of America; Alain Delelis, head of FX in the Americas, Credit Suisse; Lars Hakanson, global head of FX, Société Générale; Eddie Listorti, head of FICC, Dresdner Kleinwort; Fabian Shey and Reto Stadelmann, global co-heads of FX and money markets, UBS; Jeff Feig, global head of G10 FX, Citibank; Andrew Brown, global head of FX, HSBC; and Ivan Ritossa, head of global markets trading, Asia Pacific, and head of FX and prime services, Barclays Capital

It was off to the eighth annual Euromoney Forex Forum on Tuesday. This year it was held at The Brewery in the City of London. Regular readers will know that I’m a big believer in anecdotal evidence, and from what I saw at the Forum, it’s clear that the FX market is in extremely good shape.

The retail FX market has seen an incredible increase in trading volume. The latest data from the largest global market survey indicates retail accounts for nearly $20 trillion in annual flow, or around $80 billion a day.

HSBC is rolling out its single-bank platform HSBCnet FX and MM Trading to a wider range of European and Middle Eastern countries. The bank says its customers can now trade electronically with their regional treasuries on local balance sheets while benefiting from an integrated global FX service. All FX risk is automatically managed by the local offices in their time zone and supported by HSBC’s international trading centres in London, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai.

Saxo Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase a 35% stake in Sydney-based broking house with Tricom Holdings Limited. Saxo says if the deal completes that it will facilitate its longer-term ambitions to strengthen its position in the Australian and New Zealand markets, as well as throughout the Asia Pacific region. Saxo says that the deal should include an option to purchase the rest of Tricom within three years. Tricom’s chief executive, Lance Rosenberg, and staff will remain in their present roles. The two companies have a relationship stretching back five years; Tricom is a white-label partner of Saxo and has around 2,000 clients using the SaxoTrader dealing platform. The transaction is expected to be completed early next month and will be funded from Saxo Bank’s existing cash reserves and facilities.

Sources say that RBS has lost John Williams, Martin Vu and three other members of its FX algo team. There’s no comment from the bank, but it is apparently telling those privileged to hear that the split is amicable. The word is that the famous five are off to set up a fund.

No confirmation from FXMS, although her out of office email makes it quite clear she has left. “I am no longer with FXMarketSpace,” it says.

Saxo Bank has hired Robert Spliid as its head of the German region. Spliid was previously managing director for IKB Deutsche Industriebank, Luxembourg.

Walter Allwicher, one of the best press officers in the business, has decided to leave his role as head of media relations at Deutsche Börse/Eurex. Allwicher spent 13 years at the exchange, during which time it grew from a small, regional institution to a global and innovative player. His last offical day will be at the end of December, but he is far more likely to be seen out on a golf course before then trying to get his handicap down than handling enquiries from pesky journalists at the exchange’s Frankfurt HQ.