4pm Fix
FX benchmark fixes, specifically the WMR London 4pm “close”, have been in the spotlight recently thanks to price action around and during the fixing windows. Colin Lambert talks to Shirley Barrow, global head of benchmarks at Refinitiv about how WM/Reuters Benchmarks are managed – and what it would take to change In spite of liquidity […]
Philippe Bonnefoy, founder of Eleuthera Capital, explains why the FX industry suffers due to a lack of an effective industry benchmark.
Bonnefoy discusses why the 4pm Fix can be beneficial, but points out that it also suffers from potential gaming. He then adds that benchmarking remains a huge issue for investors trying to work out whether they should consider FX as an asset class or not.
“With an equity benchmark, you know what the index is doing, for fixed income you know what the composite bond or the bond benchmark in 10-year Treasury is. For FX, is it cash? Is it a three-month yield? Is it overnight pricing? How do I say that you created value for me in trading FX other than just saying whether you were positive or negative?,” asks Bonnefoy.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has closed its investigation into Deutsche Bank’s FX business, the bank revealed in its Q3 results today.
In May 2015, a number of major banks were fined more than $5.8 billion for practices relating to alleged collusion and manipulation of the spot FX market around the 4pm London Fix, by a number of regulatory authorities, including the CFTC.
Deutsche was not one of the firms named in those settlements, but remained under investigation by the CFTC for its FX market practices.
