Charles Schwab has launched futures and forex trading, as well as portfolio margin, on its thinkorswim platform suite, part of Schwab’s overall trading offer, Schwab Trading Powered by Ameritrade. The introduction of these capabilities marks an important step in integrating the full range of trading capabilities previously available through thinkorswim at Ameritrade. In October 2023, Schwab introduced Schwab Trading Powered by Ameritrade, which unites the thinkorswim trading platforms with Schwab’s trading capabilities on Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile, alongside extensive trading ..read more

Fund managers outside the US may need to change the timing of their foreign exchange trades to meet the shorter settlement cycle for US securities that are being introduced in May. The standard settlement cycle for most US broker-dealer transactions in securities will be reduced from two business days after a trade, T+2, to T+1 on 28 May 2024 in the US and on the previous day in Canada. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said the aim is to reduce latency, lower risk and promote efficiency and greater liquidity but it requires streamlined and efficient operational processes, presenting a ..read more

OSTTRA will operate an on-demand payment-versus-payment (PvP) service, powered by Baton’s proven distributed ledger technology, designed to mitigate settlement risk in the US$2.2 trillion of daily FX turnover settled outside CLS.  The service will be open to FX market participants globally – including market maker banks, investment managers, and large corporates.  Initial participants include HSBC and Wells Fargo. Global post-trade solutions provider, OSTTRA, announced the launch of an FX PvP settlement orchestration service designed to mitigate bilateral settlement risk between part ..read more

The big picture was in focus at a recent Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) dinner discussion in New York. The Feb. 22 event included a keynote address and a panel discussion, covering global macro trends, critical market issues, and outlook for the US presidential election in November.  KC Lam, SGX SGX’s Global Head of FX and Rates, KC Lam, was one of the hosts of the roundtable, kicking off the session with a discussion of the exchange’s Asia product suite across equities, currencies and commodities. Amid turbulent interest rates, inflation and geopolitical risks, there has been increased h ..read more

WASHINGTON, DC, February 26, 2024 – The Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA) elected a new slate of Officers and Board of Directors members at its annual meeting on February 20, 2024, marking its 10th anniversary as an organization.  Encompassing buy side, sell side, exchanges, trading platforms, and technology providers, the elections showcase the key tenets of the association, which are to represent the collective interests of professional foreign exchange market participants to advance a sound, liquid, transparent and competitive global currency market ..read more

For what seems like an eternity now, the controversy surrounding “last look” has hung over the FX industry like a dark cloud. The practice involves a liquidity provider, like an investment bank or market maker, rejecting or requoting a trade after receiving the order from a client, but crucially before executing it. Basically, it allows the liquidity provider, albeit for a very brief moment, to assess the market and decide whether to accept or reject a trade, even after the investment manager has requested the transaction. Without going into all the overly argued concerns surrounding how numer ..read more

By Vikas Srivastava, Chief Revenue Officer, Integral  Settlement issues are capturing the limelight in FX right now, especially the hurdles in post-trade execution for cross-border trades with the shift to T+1 for US equities and bonds a matter of months away now. However, there are several other factors on the agenda for FX desks. The latest J.P. Morgan eTrading survey provides valuable insights on what else is going on.   Unsurprisingly, volatility and access to liquidity were the top 2 challenges followed by workflow efficiency. The growing fragmentation of the FX markets, a ..read more

By Alex Knight, Head of EMEA and Global Sales, Baton Systems    The Business Times in Singapore recently reported that most large South Korean banks are planning to set up night shifts for staff, now that won trading hours have recently been extended. This certainly alarmed me as someone who witnessed the slog of the night shift trading desks of the 1990’s first hand – though was fortunate enough to avoid them at the time! It feels like the FX market is devolving rather than evolving with the times – bringing back a working condition long since abandoned.   There is certainly a ..read more

Alex Blackmur, who spent the last 17 years managing Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar balance sheet hedging program, joined 20-year-old global software development company, Atlassian, as treasurer last year. Blackmur speaks with Markets Media Group Senior Writer Julie Ros about his new role and the challenges of managing investments, FX hedging, treasury operations, and global cash management in today’s markets. Let’s start with your background. You spent most of your career at one of the biggest companies on the planet. How did your career progress and what led you to Atlassian? I joined Micro ..read more

Global study conducted by Mosaic Smart Data highlights poor data health of investment banks, impacting profitability and client service levels  London, 29 January 2024: Mosaic Smart Data (Mosaic), the real-time capital markets data analytics company, has revealed the challenges that front office divisions in investment banks face when attempting to get their data in a fit enoughstate to deploy AI-powered analytics to improve efficiency, productivity and profitability.  Mosaic studied six million FICC transactions from global and regional investment banks in South America, U ..read more