Global regulation of the financial services industry is a hot topic. Following recent developments and disasters in the economies of Europe and the US, the eyes of everyone, from those directly involved in the markets, to Joe Bloggs on the street, are focused on who oversees what, why and how. Heather McLean discovers why the foreign exchange brokerage market is subject to increasing scrutiny and new rules.

With continued volume growth in retail foreign exchange (FX) trading showing little sign of abating, banks and brokerages increasingly have to deploy and ramp up cutting-edge margin trading solutions to efficiently manage their retail FX customer positions, retain and win new business and stay on top. Roger Aitken canvasses leading margin FX vendors to gauge the current state of play.

Faced with a need for more effective risk management of their Retail FX customer positions, banks and brokerage firms in the FX space are being challenged by ballooning small ticket items, varying customer credit limits, risk mitigation issues as well strains on their back office processing capabilities. Roger Aitken talks to leading industry players to explore the key issues involved.

Mark Biezup, FX product Manager - SunGard Sierra, outlines why recent and projected regulatory changes along with a focus on risk management will have significant implications for FX brokers.

e-Forex has an exclusive interview with Alexander Saidullin, lead programmer of the new MetaTrader 5 Trading Platform

MAP S.Platis is an independent Cyprus-based centre of excellence in the support of financial institutions operating or wishing to operate in the European Union. The company is the leader in the field of registration of Banks and Investment Firms (IFs), including foreign exchange (FX) brokers and market makers in the European Union. The Managing Director, Dr. Stelios Platis, talks to e-Forex about the activities of the company and particularly its core, Financial Services Advisory (FSA), division.