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When the Euromoney FX poll results are released, it will be interesting to see if there has been any movement, especially in the poll’s upper echelons.

The accounting farce that’s gone beyond a joke

Another impact of the sub-prime meltdown is that trading losses and scandals that would have once had the media in a frenzy now go almost unnoticed. For instance, MF Global’s spot of bother last week in wheat futures ‘only’ resulted in a loss of $150 million.

The Peloton story illustrates the dangers of leveraged dealing in what can be illiquid assets. It’s great when things move your way, but it can be catastrophic when things conspire against you.

There are plenty of levels still acting as magnets in an array of financial markets.

Saxo Bank has reported that its 2007 profits before tax rose 78% over 2006 to €49 million ($75 million). “This year, we witnessed significant achievements in the continued effort to be a truly global bank, servicing clients and partners with a broad product offering through very volatile markets,” says Kim Fournais, Saxo’s co-founder and joint chief executive.

“We’ve found that our clients want faster access to our liquidity, and the best way of doing that is through an API” - Tom Roche, Standard Chartered.

Harry Culham, former big cheese FX at Merrill Lynch, has resurfaced far quicker than most people will have expected at CIBC. In his new role as managing director and head, fixed income and currencies (FIC), Culham will be based in Toronto. The job marks a return to his roots for Canadian national Culham, who worked at CIBC earlier in his career from 1990 to 1994 as an FX dealer in Toronto.

Bob Gotelli has retired from his role as head of global currency sales at Bank of America. At the time of writing, it was not known where he has retired to. His departure does not come as a surprise to BoA insiders. His base in San Francisco had led many within the bank to question how viable his supposedly global role was. His replacement has not yet been named, but Steve Godfrey will take on the job on an interim basis.

Steve McDermott has announced he intends to relinquish his role as an executive director at Icap on March 20. McDermott, who was appointed a director on October 28, 1998 during the company’s former Garban incarnation, most recently oversaw the integration of the cash-cow EBS business as chief operating officer for the Americas.

Dimitri Psyllidis has resigned from his role as co-head of EMEA FICC at Merrill Lynch. As a result, David Gu becomes the sole head of the business, in addition to his responsibilities as global head of rates and currencies and global FICC electronic trading.

The well-respected Daniel Darst has apparently quit his role at FX Solutions, where he was responsible for building up the firms institutional business. Darst only joined the company, which was recently acquired by City Index, last July (see US retail FX platform consolidation: A change is gonna come and FX Solutions hires Darst). Sources say that Darst, who previously had a long stint at Saxo, is planning on working as an introducing broker. However, given his experience, it is likely that he will not be short of offers of employment.