Foreign Exchange

Mergers & Acquisitions | Management
Amid the merger frenzy of 2014, a startling number of bids were killed. 2014 may have seen heady times for corporate acquirers, but it was also the year of the rebuffed suitor.

Capital Markets | Foreign Exchange
Currency pegs around the world are threatening to come unglued following the Swiss National Bank’s surprise move to drop the exchange rate floor of the euro versus the Swiss franc.

Milestones | Venezuela
Venezuela’s introduction of a marginal free-floating currency system that will freely trade the US dollar and the bolivar seems unlikely to enlarge the country’s foreign exchange reserves or stem its growing external debt.

Trends | Foreign Exchange
Foreign exchange traders complained that lack of volatility in the market last year was drying up their business. These same traders are now feeling whiplash from the Swiss National Bank’s surprise move on January 15 to de-peg the “Swissie” from the euro.

Eddie Listorti, co-global head of fixed income, currencies and commodities at ANZ Group in Singapore, sees intra-Asian currency flows as a lucrative opportunity.

Lithuania | Milestones
On January 1, Lithuania abandoned the litas, becoming the 19th member of the eurozone and joining Baltic peers Estonia and Latvia in the economic and monetary union.

Mikhail Palei, head of foreign exchange flow at VTB Capital in Moscow, expects international banks to lose their appetite for risk in the Russian ruble—which he sees as an opportunity for Russia’s FX desks.

Treasurers from leading F500 companies and executives from top banks gathered at the Harvard Club in New York to discuss how treasurers are leveraging new market developments to improve treasury operations.

Regulatory uncertainty, technological change and traders behaving badly have collided in a perfect storm for banks’ foreign exchange operations

Antti Ranta, head of FX at Nordea in Helsinki, sees demand growing for emerging markets currencies in Nordic countries—and for advice on how to trade them.

Corporate Debt | Capital Markets
Euroclear will extend its cross-border settlement services at the end of January to Mexican corporate debt instruments known as cebures, or “bourse certificates.” This will enable Mexican companies to issue peso-denominated debt specifically targeted to international investors.

Philip Nel, head of FX trading for Africa at Standard Bank in Johannesburg, anticipates a proliferation of new foreign exchange products in countries across the continent.

Africa | Emerging Markets Regional Review
African economies are well on their way to transforming the region’s status from a frontier to an emerging market. The IMF predicts Africa will grow by 5.8% in 2015, up from 5.1% this year, with Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique projected to growth over 8%.

China | Capital Markets
In a major step toward opening China’s capital account, Hong Kong and Shanghai have linked their equity markets and abolished the cap on how much Chinese currency Hong Kong residents may purchase (or sell) daily.

Q&A | Capital Markets
Saugata Bhattacharya is the senior vice president and chief economist at Axis Bank in India.

India | Capital Markets
The rupee realizes international ambitions. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) sold its first rupee-denominated bonds in London in November to attract international investment in India’s infrastructure.

Canada & China | Capital Markets
Canada and China have agreed to support the increased use of renminbi in trade, commerce and investment between the two countries.

Foreign Exchange | Capital Markets
How to take the gaming instinct out of foreign exchange traders has become the order of the day, following last month’s imposition of $4.3 billion in fines on six global banks for manipulating currency benchmarks.

FX Supplement 2014 | Overview
Will regulation repair forex’s damaged reputation—and are banks ready for the culture change?             

FX Supplement 2014 | Introduction
Many dyed-in-the-wool foreign exchange traders lament the regulatory changes sweeping the industry more than six years after the global financial crisis.