Derivs - FX

Grupo Santander in Hong Kong this week opened for business trading non-deliverable forwards.

Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Peter Nielsen to the new role of head of markets. With immediate effect, he is responsible for all global banking and markets business, including credit, rates, FX, equities, trading, sales, and syndicate.

Standard Chartered is advising investors to sell one-year 25 delta USD puts/JPY calls and buy cheaper one-year 25 delta USD calls/JPY puts with strikes at USD/JPY 85.50 and 104.85. Spot at press time sat at 97.76.

Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager Ajia Partners is set to launch a new fund of funds on Monday and is planning to use a risk overlay strategy incorporating over-the-counter flow products like put options to manage its related exposures.

Three managing directors in derivative sales for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong have left the firm.

Foreign exchange players prepped for an uptick in the euro late this week by picking up short-dated euro calls against the U.S dollar.

Corporates are skittish when it comes to exotic currency trading amid high volatility, but some are making directional fx plays using zero-cost collars.

Morgan Stanley has launched a transition management services group in Asia and is looking to push over-the-counter derivatives to its Asia ex-Japan institutional investor clients.

The USD/CNY non-deliverable forwards market was driven into a frenzy over the past two days on the heels of a report by a senior Chinese economic official suggesting the yuan may weaken further than expected.

Standard Chartered Bank has hired four senior traders in the Americas in a bid to expand in fx options and G10 spot trading in Latin America, as well as interest rate derivatives.

The weakening yen is causing traders to look at short-term plays with barriers 3-4% above and below USD/JPY spot and 6-7% above and below EUR/JPY spot, according to a Deutsche Bank report.

Royal Bank of Scotland is advising investors to buy 12-month USD/TWD non-deliverable forwards to take advantage of further weakening anticipated in the Taiwan new dollar.