IMF responds with $12 billion loan approval; banks’ long-term prospects improve.

After failing to reach agreement at its last two meetings, Opec agreed this week to cut oil output for the first time in eight years. The oil price responded favourably, but lingering doubts about the finer details could mean the impact is short lived.

While accepting that regulation can help increase consumer and business confidence in cryptocurrencies, providers and industry analysts agree that the BitLicense model is not the way forward for the UK

Regulatory requirements are driving the development of more sophisticated monitoring software, but FX market participants also have much to gain commercially from ensuring their communications systems are technologically robust.

Banks and brokers face a tough decision as they struggle to keep up with technology: when to abandon upgrades and take the plunge into a new system. Increasingly, starting again is looking like the easier option.

The US president-elect has talked tough on China, but he could be good news for China’s economy and its currency.

UK businesses face a post-Brexit hedging headache, as FX protection purchased before the referendum is now running out for many companies. The cost of renewing it has subsequently sky rocketed.

Despite struggling to make a mark on corporate FX, non-bank market makers are confident they play a vital role in improving access to liquidity.

Better hedging seems to have enabled the FX market to shrug off concerns over Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections, with some strong moves in Asian trading giving way to more restraint when European markets opened.

Regional FX volatility and capital outflows likely to hit LatAm; biggest risk comes from protectionism policies in the medium term.

Flash crashes are still mercifully rare, but FX bankers worry that changing market dynamics will make them happen more often.

Broker in a box is promoted as a means of taking the pain out of establishing a regulated FX brokerage, but choosing the wrong approach and/or provider runs the risk of limiting the growth potential of the business from the outset.

As the US enters the final week of a long and bitter election, and with the High Court throwing the UK’s Brexit plans into doubt, political uncertainty has been the chief driver of the currency markets.

As FX managed services move towards ever-greater flexibility and ease of access to applications, Euromoney considers the key elements in a managed services offering and how it benefits buy-side and sell-side firms.

While non-bank providers such as hedge funds and technology companies have taken significant market share in retail FX, they have not got a foothold in corporate FX business.

Celent has called on central banks to issue their own digital currencies to help raise inflation and reduce systemic risk

Co-location providers in the FX market are finally seeing better prospects

Communications compliance is moving up the agenda for financial services firms, as the City's watchdog cracks the supervisory whip and the implementation deadline for MiFID II fast approaches

Higher margin requirements imposed in the run-up to the Brexit referendum could be a sign of things to come as the FX market digests the impact of reduced leverage

The renminbi’s inclusion in special drawing rights (SDR) is 'the biggest structural event in FX since the creation of the euro'.

Regulators might not like them, but many FX brokers view contracts for difference as an opportunity to differentiate their offering in a highly competitive market.

Peer-to-peer foreign-exchange providers seek to differentiate themselves in a saturated market that has yet to achieve profitability.

The provider of settlement services for foreign exchange is looking to expand its influence in the FX markets by providing a netting service for payments that is available to institutions that are not CLS members and in currencies it does not settle. By using the distributed ledger, it also hopes to facilitate greater use of this technology.

Despite a substantial fall in trading volumes in Bahrain during the past three years and the ability of Saudi Arabia to defend its currency peg, increased electronic trading volumes suggest the Middle East FX market has scope for further development.

The Bank of Japan has unveiled a new strategy in its fight against persistently low inflation amid concerns its QE and negative interest rates regime wasn't working and may even be hurting the economy. Attention now turns to other global central banks to see if they will change course too.

Transition management firms play a vital role in helping asset managers restructure large portfolios of securities and remove or replace underperforming managers, but past controversies are a reminder to clients they should not assume they are always getting the best deal on FX.

The market had anticipated the Fed would use its last speech before its September rates decision to prep the ground for a hike, but the audience was instead given a list of reasons for the Bank not to act. The market reaction underlines the diminishing returns of ultra-loose monetary policy.

The days of using gold for everyday transactions have long since passed, but could the blockchain change that?

As the China International Payment System (CIPS) approaches its first anniversary, there is much anticipation around how the second phase of the project will impact RMB settlement volumes.

The FX business is officially shrinking for the first time since 2001, as the world's largest financial market battles an industry slowdown and a regulatory crackdown.