Forced clearing of FX instruments will probably favour market incumbents in established trading centres, particularly London, a leading derivatives lawyer said yesterday (June 29).

Steve Toland, head of FX sales for EMEA and the Americas at ICAP, has left after six years with the firm to pursue new opportunities, according to an internal memo seen by EuromoneyFXNews. It is believed that two of Toland’s colleagues, Rob Parr and Clive Hadingham, also left the firm yesterday, according to a source.

The dollar may gain at the end of the month as investors who hedged in other currencies reduce those positions because of losses from assets such as US stocks, Citigroup says in a report.

Investors should take advantage of a rebound in the euro and sell the currency for dollars even if the immediate danger of a Greek default is averted, says Royal Bank of Scotland.

High-frequency trading firms are increasingly relying on their prime brokers to monitor their credit limits in real time, says Noel Singh, head of prime brokerage at SEB.

Citic Securities has launched a potentially ground-breaking multi-strategy renminbi-denominated hedge fund betting on a steady appreciation of the Chinese currency against the US dollar, reports Asia Hedge, a sister publication to EuromoneyFXNews.

The yen is likely to decline against the US dollar as outgoing Japanese capital flows are rising, say FX strategists from Nomura and Barclays Capital.

UBS has cut its long-term sterling forecast to £1.50. It cites last week’s dovish Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee notes and a change in the committee voting pattern as decisive factors.

The Norwegian krone deserves equivalent safe-haven buying status as the Swiss franc, HSBC chief FX strategist David Bloom has argued in the bank’s weekly strategy update.

Investors should look beyond using just a single currency such as the Japanese yen or US dollar to invest in higher-yielding assets via the carry trade, say FX strategists at Nomura.

US dollar futures continued their positive trend of recent weeks with a moderate decrease in short positions, data from the CFTC’s weekly Commitment of Traders report show. Net dollar shorts fell to 119,593 from 185,700 on June 14, RBC notes in its IMM strategy update.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is to become a clearing broker on FXall, it announced today (June 27). BAML FX clients will be able to access FXall’s pricing and trading capabilities for spot FX via the bourse’s anonymous Order Book electronic communications network.

Traiana, the post-trade technology firm owned by ICAP, and a group of the FX industry’s leading prime brokers and electronic exchanges are introducing a new technology platform, Harmony CreditLink, that will more effectively manage the credit risks associated with breaches of trading limits by high-frequency traders.

Global reserve managers are caught in a cycle of buying US dollars when they should be diversifying their currency holdings, leaving them exposed to global macro and sovereign debt risk, say FX strategists at Citi.

Oanda, the Canadian FX platform, has opened an office in London as a centre for its Oanda Europe subsidiary. The firm, which has a strong retail base, is hoping to attract more local institutional clients, managing director Anthony Broadbent tells EuromoneyFXNews.

In recent years, exchange-traded FX trading has boomed. The number of contracts traded on exchange grew by 142% in 2010, according to the Futures Industry Association, making it the fastest-growing exchange product by a factor of three. This illustrates the acceptance of currencies as a legitimate asset class and the rise of high-frequency trading.

Oanda, the Canadian FX platform, has opened an office in London as a centre for its Oanda Europe subsidiary. The firm, which has a strong retail base, is hoping to attract more local institutional clients, managing director Anthony Broadbent tells EuromoneyFXNews.

ICAP has completed what is says is the first electronic non-deliverable FX swap trade on an independent global interdealer platform.

Short-term players dumped the euro on Wednesday, closing out long positions after Greek prime minister George Papandreou won a parliamentary confidence vote, which raises hopes that a €79 billion ($113 billion) bailout package will go ahead.

Short-term players dumped the euro on Wednesday, closing out long positions after Greek prime minister George Papandreou won a parliamentary confidence vote, which raises hopes that a €79 billion ($113 billion) bailout package will go ahead.

Offshore renminbi deposits and trade settlements have surged in recent months, raising speculation that China is accelerating moves to loosen its ties to the US dollar and create a new global reserve currency.

Price action in options markets shows that investors are positioning themselves for declines in the euro, despite rises in the currency against the US dollar in recent days.

Swiss domestic banks are resisting the temptation to increase the size of their balance sheets and are building local-currency holdings, suggesting that the swiss franc is unlikely to decline any time soon, said analysts at Nomura on Tuesday.

Asian currencies rose against the US dollar on Tuesday as equities gained and investors bet that the US currency would continue to weaken amid record low interest rates and slow economic growth.

HSBC has continued the rollout of its new series of currency index offerings, with the launch of a flexible FX product that clients can tailor to their own needs, the bank said on Monday.

The euro fell, prompting a sell-off in riskier currencies, after euro-area finance ministers delayed a decision on providing money to Greece due as part of a bailout package agreed in May.

Net short positions on the US dollar fell in the week ending June 14, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) latest Commitments of Traders reports show, based on International Money Market data.

Brian Kim, formerly a foreign exchange strategist at UBS until his recent departure, is to join RBS Greenwich, EuromoneyFXNews understands.

The US National Futures Association is clamping down on non-compliant performance disclosures from recently registered foreign-exchange commodity trading advisers, according to Compliance Reporter, a sister publication of EuromoneyFXNews.

Emerging-market consumer price convergence relative to developed-world peers will continue to fuel out performance in emerging-market currencies, say currency managers.