Intercontinental Exchange is delaying plans to clear foreign exchange swaps. Citigroup named James Bibbey to be its head of electronic foreign exchange services. Tradition has launched a new foreign exchange trading system called ParFX. Standard Chartered has promoted Chris Allington to be its global head of foreign exchange trading.
ICE: Intercontinental Exchange is delaying plans to clear foreign exchange swaps.
The exchange operator and clearing firm, which is in the midst of acquiring NYSE Euronext, is putting its plan to launch a clearing service for over-the-counter foreign exchange contracts, until regulatory requirements are clearer, the firm said.
“Based on regulatory developments, customer discussions and delays in OTX FX contracts being subject to mandatory clearing, we are holding the launch” of a clearing service, said ICE vice president Kelly L. Loeffler. “We appreciate the support of members and we will continue to monitor the regulatory environment for clearing FX swaps.”
The Atlanta firm had announced plans to get into FX swaps clearing in March 2012, with FX Week reporting it would first handle non-deliverable forward contracts.
The venture had backing from 10 clearing members, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
ICE received approval to offer clearing from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and planned to launch the service by the end of June. The launch awaited approval from the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom.
CITIGROUP: Citigroup named Richard Bibbey to be its head of electronic foreign exchange services in London.
He replaces Simon Jones, who left earlier this month.
Bibbey is head of trading in currencies and short-term interest rates for Asia at Citi in Sydney, Australia. He will relocate to London.
Jones spent 14 years at Citigroup.
Bibbey will oversee Citi’s Autotrader platform. He has been with Citi since 1998.
TRADITION: Tradition has launched a new foreign exchange trading system called ParFX.
They system is backed by 11 banks, including Deutsche Bank, UBS and Barclays.
The system aims to put banks and their customers on an equal footing with high-speed traders now entering the FX market.
Tradition is a subsidiary of Compagnie Financiere Tradition.
Other banks that have signed up to ParFX include Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas SA, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada, SEB, Standard Chartered, and State Street Corp.
STANDARD CHARTERED: Standard Chartered has promoted Chris Allington to be its global head of foreign exchange trading.
Allington had been its regional head of FX, rates and credit for Europe and Americas.
Allington worked at Merrill Lynch International from 2002 until 2009. Allington then worked at Goldman Sachs between June 2009 and May 2010.
Allington will operate out of Singapore.
