In the FICC of It

In the FICC of It


In the FICC of It

January 18, 2020

There is plenty on the run sheet for this week’s podcast as Galen Stops quizzes Colin Lambert over a report that links FX swaps liquidity and spreads to spot. Lambert confesses to being a little puzzled over some of the statements in the report and willingly confesses to Stops’ accusation of him being an FX geek by explaining what he would like to see in the next piece of research into what he thinks is a phenomenon and not a structural shift.


The conversation then moves onto to discuss a new blockchain collateral solution that will underpin one of the new peer-to-peer FX trading platforms and while Lambert agrees with Stops that the technology solution could have a significant impact on market functioning he is still sceptical about how many trades will actually be done to put on the solution?


Stops finds time – much to Lambert’s disappointment – to discuss the rise last year in full amount trading on CboeFX, one of his 2019 predictions coming true, while Lambert is keener to discuss the non-firm fill rates on the platform. While he thinks there is more to do on the fill rates, Lambert does acknowledge there is no benchmark to measure against because no other platform offers such granular detail.


Our podcasters’ then offer their views on the FX Global Code hitting 1,000 Statements of Commitment and Switzerland being named a currency manipulator (five years to the week after it stopped manipulating…and almost destroyed the FX market), they also find time to highlight a couple of “interesting” Asian responses to the US Treasury report on FX practices. Finally, Lambert shares his press release of the week, which demonstrates, if nothing else, what can happen when enthusiasm dominates the naming of a company.