CNH FX forwards rose this week as traders and investors sought to close the arbitrage between offshore Chinese renminbi deposit rates and the implied interest rates being priced into forward contracts, following a relaxation of rules by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority last week.

Keith Underwood has been hired by Lloyds Banking Group as head of FX trading for the Americas to be based in New York, EuromoneyFXNews can reveal.

State Street and BNY Mellon, the US’s largest custody banks, face fresh investigations into their handling of foreign-exchange transactions for pension-fund clients, reports Institutional Investor, a sister publication of EuromoneyFXNews.

Santander has hired Matt Shaw from Louis Capital to work in hedge fund sales in London, a Santander spokesperson has confirmed.

Foreign-exchange futures and options traded on CME fell by 6.5% month on month during July, according to the exchange’s monthly trading statistics. Volumes were up 6% on July 2010.

Trading on multi-dealer platform FXall jumped 37% year on year during the second quarter of 2011, figures released today (August 1) show.

A draft agreement on raising the US debt ceiling will not be enough to shift a bearish outlook for the dollar, say analysts at JPMorgan. The US dollar is trading lower against most pairs following the deal announcement, and in trade-weighted terms is actually down 0.2% against a basket of currencies since Friday’s close, JPM calculates.

Growth exceeds expectations; Chinese authorities slowly loosen capital controls

Trading of currencies and bonds in the offshore Chinese Renminbi market in Hong Kong was given a major boost this week after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority extended the scope for the trading of offshore currency swaps denominated in RMB (CNH).

Leveraged investors are increasingly bullish on the Japanese yen, the latest Commitment of Traders report from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission suggests. Some $10.3 billion worth of long positions had been built up as of Tuesday July 26 – close to 12-month highs.

Mark Johnson looks at an updated version of a classic work on the origins and development of Europe’s single currency.

The initial relief rally that greeted the second bailout plan for Greece last month was predictably short-lived.

Gain Capital, one of the biggest global retail FX brokers, said its second-quarter revenues rose 38% from the previous quarter after it improved operating margins and continued to grow beyond its local market in the US.

The dollar is already shedding the characteristics of a safe-haven currency in advance of a likely downgrade in the US sovereign rating, says Jens Nordvig, head of G10 strategy at Nomura.

The yen is close to breaching its all-time high of 76.00 against the dollar amid a deadlock in resolving the US government’s debt crisis, which is likely to be further exacerbated by liquidation of currency investments by Japanese retail investors commonly referred to as Mr and Mrs Watanabe.

Gold-i, the UK-based trading technology integrator, has developed a new system for FX traders that streamlines allocations between multiple accounts. Its new Multiple Allocation Manager (MAM) will be integrated into the MetaTrader4 platform.

Saxo Bank, an online FX trading specialist, has bought a 25% stake in Leverate, a UK technology services provider. The move will allow the Danish bank to incorporate a version of Leverate’s MetaTrader4, a popular retail platform software, into its client offering.

State Street, a US bank, has purchased a minority stake in Digital Vega, a UK-based FX options trading platform provider.

CLS has hired Sankar Aiyar from Citigroup as chief technology officer, a CLS spokesperson has confirmed.

HSBC, the No. 4 FX bank with UK real money investors, has hired Chris Jackson from Societe Generale as a director in its UK real money FX sales team, a HSBC spokesperson has confirmed.

The Australian dollar has hit a post-float high of 1.1080, after a higher-than-expected second-quarter inflation print raised the prospect of an interest-rate hike being brought forward.

Morgan Stanley has hired Eric Darwell from Nomura, as a non-deliverable forward trader based in New York, a Morgan Stanley spokesperson has confirmed.

The failure of the US Congress to reach a deal on raising the US debt ceiling weighed heavily on dollar sentiment Tuesday. EURUSD opened at 1.4501 in London, while traders reported widespread dollar selling overnight, with support at 1.4390/1.4310-20 and resistance at 1.4520.

Credit Suisse has hired Giovanni Amanti from Barclays Capital, as a director for FX structuring in Asia, a Credit Suisse spokesman has confirmed.

Futures traders remain heavily long on the Australian dollar in spite of its recent sharp falls, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s latest round of FX market positioning data shows.

A daily average $2.1 trillion was traded in London during April 2011, according to the Bank of England’s Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee semi-annual turnover survey released today. The results, the highest recorded since the survey began in 2004, show that London remains the largest centre for global FX trading by an order of more than 2:1 over New York.

Marianna Largey, a relationship manager at CLS Group, the market settlement system for the FX market, has left the firm.

Investors may find digital options strategies offer an attractive return in the wake of the latest eurozone bailout, as heightened euro/dollar volatility has made such strategies, which effectively mean selling implied volatility, attractive, strategists say.

HSBC, the number 2 FX bank with French corporate customers, has hired Lia Cavaglione from Goldman Sachs to join its French corporate sales team, a HSBC spokesperson has confirmed.

Nadia Titarchuk, a Latin America currency options trader for Goldman Sachs based in New York, has left the firm, EuromoneyFXNews can reveal. She was a managing director and ran the firm’s local markets options desk for the region.