The launch of Trigger Trader introduces, “an entirely new approach to algorithmic foreign exchange trading”, according to the press release. You can’t help but tire of the hyperbole – but at least they didn’t use ‘groundbreaking’.

Gain Capital has completely revamped its forex.com website to provide “streamlined trading, research and account management features in a secure, web-based environment. Also launched is a new mobile version of forex.com that “allows customers to easily access real-time market information, trade and manage their accounts via their mobile devices.” That will be another contender for the iPhone app crown. The website is now available in the US and will be rolled out in the UK, Australia and Singapore in the coming months.

First Derivatives based in Newry, Northern Ireland, has completed the purchase of Brian Maccaba’s Cognotec Holdings. Barclays called in the receiver two weeks ago when Cognotec broke its covenants regarding a loan of €6.5 million. First Derivatives is reported to have paid €3.4 million for Cognotec.

Cyprus-based platform FxPro signed up last December to sponsor Richard Branson’s Virgin Racing formula one team.

The latest populist punish-the-bankers initiative was launched last week.

It would be ironic if foreign exchange was forced into central clearing and exchange trading as a result of governmental malpractice.

So says Matthew Lynn at Bloomberg Business Week. I wade through a lot of brown stuff on behalf of the FiX readership. I’ll just give you the last paragraph of Matthew’s article; it will be enough: “That’s why if you work in the markets, figuring out clever ways of swapping euros into yen and dollars into pounds would be the best thing you could do. It will be the fastest way to make your fortune.”

While Citibank has stolen the march on the other major banks in the app stakes, it faces competition from the platform providers. Next week we will be looking at apps sent to us by Dukascopy, Oanda, FX360 and Easy Forex.

Deutsche Bank has confirmed that Chris Fahey joins it in two months as a spot trader on EUR/USD. He previously occupied a similar role at Citibank.

FXall has increased its presence in the Asian market with a link up with Quick Corp, Japan’s biggest financial information vendor. Quick have launched QuickFX, supported by FXall’s technology and liquidity; Quick’s clients will also have access to FXall’s request for quote functionality via Quick’s existing Astra Manager and ActiveManager applications.

A week after Standard Chartered celebrated the hire of Chris Allington, we are told that Oliver Jerome has left his role in bank sales there. He is headed for Morgan Stanley to run European FX and commodities sales.

As we mentioned in last week’s FiX, Andy Amschwand is back at UBS. It has now been announced that, as head of the investment products and services unit, his role will be to stem the withdrawal of private client funds. Wealth management outflows from UBS amounted to nearly CHF90 billion in 2009.

The bond market went quiet last week because of lost working days. The issue of liquidity may be temporarily resolved, but next week will determine if normality has returned.

No matter how much we’re paid, most of us are reluctant to allow the taxman to lift more than half of our earnings directly from our pockets. Throw in a special tax on bonuses, which may or may not be a one-off, and the 50p top-rate income tax levied by the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling is certain to make people wonder if they may not be better off somewhere else.

The suit is the latest of more than 100 pending law suits related to structured option contracts that have been filed since December.

Deutsche’s bi-monthly Exchange rate perspectives publication contains a report on foreign exchange investment returns. Particularly it analyses three years of live trading (and 30 years of back-tested results) of Deutsche Bank’s systematic currency returns index, the dbCR.

While eagerly awaiting the delivery of Euromoney’s iPad consignment I thought I’d check out the availability of FX applications (or apps, as the Apple folk call them) for the iPod and iPhone. Free apps, of course – I’m not paying for this stuff.

Multi-bank platforms are focussing on the Far East in the wake of further possible regulation in the US market. Charlotte-based Advanced Markets is providing its direct market access platform to South Korean securities house Shinhan Investment Corporation to offer FX margin trading to SIC’s clients. SIC is a subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group, Korea’s second largest financial company. This follows a similar agreement between Advanced Markets and Leading Investment & Securities in Seoul announced in November.

It seems like we bang this drum in every column, but lately the truth is that a week doesn’t go by without us receiving news of some record volume figure or other.

Just two weeks of voting are left in the Euromoney poll, but it’s shaping up to be the biggest yet. So far our research team – who seem to be here all hours verifying the votes – have received more than 11,000 complete responses, up 30% so far on last year. A rush of votes usually comes as the polling period nears its end, so now is the time to kick your salesforce up the arse and get the clients voting.

At the start of the week, we intended to write how little there was happening on the recruitment front. We conjectured that with the 50% tax on ex-gratia payments (ie the recruiting bank would have to absorb the tax on the bonus buy-out and sign-on fee), beefing up the headcount had got a lot more expensive. We also thought that banks – with the exception of CIBC and BNP – were generally holding off until after April 6 when the tax is supposed to end (though I’ve heard rumours that the deadline will be extended).

People moves: Standard Chartered shows muscle with Allington hire

BNP Paribas is quite open about its ambitions to break into the upper echelons of the foreign exchange market. To achieve its goals, it will need to compete with the established leaders in its online platforms.

Citi has hired Thomson Reuters’ Susan Gammage as its head of G10 eFX sales. Gammage, who is a well-respected figure in e-commerce, is also a member of the New York FX Committee. She will be based in New York and report to Andy Coyne, Citi’s head of FX prime and G10 e-commerce. “We have focused our resources on developing a new suite of FX e-commerce products, the flagship being CitiFX Velocity, which we rolled out through 2009, and which is already attracting strong volumes. Susan’s remit is to take responsibility for the development of the G10 FX e-commerce sales team with a view to further optimising our market share, which is growing substantially, and increasing our relationship management capabilities,” says Coyne.

Having landed Chris Eagle last week, CIBC has added Peter Snasdell (ex-NewEdge) and Helen Thomas (ex-Merrill and Skanska Enskilda) to the hedge fund sales team.

Still no official confirmation, but theweeklyFiX understands that Liam Hudson (former senior eFX developer at Barclays) will start this month at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London as global head of eFX.

As revealed in theweeklyFiX back in November, Sean Comer will begin his new job as managing director and chief operating officer for FX at Deutsche Bank next week. Comer used to hold a similar role at Barclays.

Nick Greenland has started at Credit Suisse this week as global head of the GFX Risk Advisory Group based in London. He occupied a similar role at RBS for seven years.

Once global head of money markets, currencies and commodities at UBS and latterly a consultant at the company, Andy Amschwand is back on the permanent staff. We hear he’s working on a special project called ‘Investment producer solutions’. We look forward to finding out more soon.

If it is not the worsening economy in the USA, it is the Greeks creating mayhem in the Euro zone. Rescue will come, but time to batten down hatches!