In the FICC of It

In the FICC of It


In the FICC of It

November 09, 2019

This week’s In the FICC of It podcast is an emotional rollercoaster, containing euphoria, resignations and emotional pleas for clemency as Colin Lambert and Galen Stops discuss key themes from the last two conferences of the year at Profit & Loss, in Singapore and Hong Kong.


Reflecting upon some really interesting (and different) perspectives on the geopolitical landscape at the two conferences, our two podcasters dive into the themes of de-dollarisation and the future of the RMB, asking what are the alternatives to the dollar? There is plenty of noise about moving away from it, but where will reserve managers go?


Maintaining the Asia theme the two then discuss the efforts on the part of Singapore to attract major FX players to its liquidity hub. Regular listeners will not be surprised to hear there is a level of cynicism over how the centre is going to get the buy side to connect, especially when the primary FX venues are not, as yet, connecting, and also what would happen if China decides it wants a liquidity hub?


Stops also recounts one of his favourite moments from the conferences, when a panel was asked what they considered to be the drivers of the huge surprises in the BIS turnover survey – the 67.8% surge in volumes via prime brokerage, before Lambert follows up last week’s discussion on the value of liquidity and connectivity to platforms.


What is probably the loosest In the FICC of It yet closes out with Stops and Lambert sharing their favourite moments from the week’s conferences – and this includes algos deliberately losing money and an idea for the most combative panel session ever!