Derivs - FX

CLS Group is opening an office in Hong Kong that becomes operational Aug. 20.

Chris Eagle, global head of fx at Marex Spectron in London, has joined Jefferies as a managing director and head of institutional fx sales for Europe, also based in London.

South Korea’s plan to introduce a derivatives transaction tax in 2014 could hurt volumes and liquidity in the KOSPI 200 futures and options market, and will face stiff opposition from the market.

LCH.Clearnet’s ForexClear platform has exceeded USD1 trillion in cleared notional of fx non-deliverable forwards since its launch last March.

One institutional investor was seen buying a two-month straddle on the U.S. dollar against the yen, while selling a three-month straddle on the same cross.

Integral Development Corp. has filed an application the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to have its INFX swap execution facility approved to clear swaps under Dodd Frank regulations. The tech and trading platform shop is based in Palo Alto, Calif.

HSBC has placed a novel fx structured product that uses path dependent options to add a reset feature. That allows the transaction to switch from a forward-like payoff to an option depending on spot prices.

Bloomberg has received temporary registration approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to operate a multi-asset class swap execution facility.

State Street has joined the ranks of applicants to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to become a multi-asset swap execution facility under Dodd-Frank, less than a week before the final SEF rules become effective.

The average daily volume total for over-the-counter fx instruments in the U.S. and U.K. was up by 27% and 26% respectively in April versus October 2012, the last time central banks surveyed the market.

The European Central Bank’s Foreign Exchange Contact Group has proposed that fx swaps, market making and hedging be exempt from the E.U. financial transaction tax.

Japanese retail investors have been fast switching their fx forwards and options to reference U.S. dollar, yen over the last two months, with the cross accounting for over 80% of trades in June.