ABSTRACT
Information technology has done a lot in the field of banking work. A
lot of tools have been developed to assist in the banking sector. This project
work is concern in the design and implementation of online stock exchange
research portal used in first bank of Nigeria Enugu branch.
Foreign exchange involves changing
different currency to a particular currency. This has been previously done by
manual method. But this project is aimed at automating our foreign exchange system
to make the work easier. This is possible because of the advance improvement in
information technology as pertaining programming language; because this is
achieved by the help of visual basic programming language.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title
page i
Approval
page ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table
of content
Chapter
one
1.0 Introduction 1
- statement of the
problem 2
- Purpose of study 3
- Aims and
objective of the study 3
- Scope of study 4
- Constraints 4
- Assumptions 5
- Definition of
terms. 5
Chapter
two
Chapter
three
- Description and
analysis of the existing system 10
- Method of data
collection 11
- Objective of the
existing system 11
- Input/process/output
analysis 13
- Information flow
diagram 15
Chapter
four
Design
of new system 16
- Output
specification and design 16
- Input
specification and design 17
Chapter
five
5.0 Implementation 22
Chapter
six
Chapter
seven
Summary,
recommendation and conclusion 29
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex and related markets currently is almost US$ 4 trillion.[1]
The foreign exchange
market is unique because of
- its trading volumes,
- the extreme liquidity of the market,
- the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,
- its geographical dispersion,
- its long trading hours: 24 hours a day except on weekends (from 5pm EST on Sunday until 4pm EST Friday),
- the variety of factors that affect exchange rates.
- the low margins of profit compared with other markets of fixed income (but profits can be high due to very large trading volumes)
- the use of leverage
Market participants
Unlike a stock market, where all participants have access to the same
prices, the forex market is divided into levels of access. At the top is the
inter-bank market, which is made up of the largest investment banking firms.
Within the inter-bank market, spreads, which are the difference between the bid
and ask prices, are razor sharp and usually unavailable, and not known to
players outside the inner circle. As you descend the levels of access, the
difference between the bid and ask prices widens (from 0-1 pip to 1-2 pips for
some currencies such as the EUR). This is due to volume. If a trader can
guarantee large numbers of transactions for large amounts, they can demand a
smaller difference between the bid and ask price, which is referred to as a
better spread. The levels of access that make up the forex market are
determined by the size of the “line” (the amount of money with which they are
trading). The top-tier inter-bank market accounts for 53% of all transactions.
After that there are usually smaller investment banks, followed by large
multi-national corporations (which need to hedge risk and pay employees in
different countries), large hedge funds, and even some of the retail forex
market makers. According to Galati and Melvin, “Pension funds, insurance
companies, mutual funds, and other institutional investors have played an
increasingly important role in financial markets in general, and in FX markets
in particular, since the early 2000s.” (2004) In addition, he notes, “Hedge
funds have grown markedly over the 2001–2004 period in terms of both number and
overall size” Central banks also participate in the forex market to align
currencies to their economic needs.
Banks
The interbank market caters for both the majority of commercial turnover
and large amounts of speculative trading every day. A large bank may trade
billions of dollars daily. Some of this trading is undertaken on behalf of
customers, but much is conducted by proprietary desks, trading for the bank’s
own account.
Until recently, foreign exchange brokers did large amounts of business, facilitating interbank trading and matching anonymous counterparts for small fees. Today, however, much of this business has moved on to more efficient electronic systems. The broker squawk box lets traders listen in on ongoing interbank trading and is heard in most trading rooms, but turnover is noticeably smaller than just a few years ago.
Commercial companies
An important part of this market comes from the financial activities of
companies seeking foreign exchange to pay for goods or services. Commercial
companies often trade fairly small amounts compared to those of banks or
speculators, and their trades often have little short term impact on market
rates. Nevertheless, trade flows are an important factor in the long-term
direction of a currency’s exchange rate. Some multinational companies can have
an unpredictable impact when very large positions are covered due to exposures
that are not widely known by other market participants.
Central banks
National central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves to stabilize the market. Milton Friedman argued that the best stabilization strategy would be for central banks to buy when the exchange rate is too low, and to sell when the rate is too high — that is, to trade for a profit based on their more precise information. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of central bank “stabilizing speculation” is doubtful because central banks do not go bankrupt if they make large losses, like other traders would, and there is no convincing evidence that they do make a profit trading.
The mere expectation or rumor of central bank intervention might be enough to stabilize a currency, but aggressive intervention might be used several times each year in countries with a dirty float currency regime. Central banks do not always achieve their objectives. The combined resources of the market can easily overwhelm any central bank.[4] Several scenarios of this nature were seen in the 1992–93 ERM collapse, and in more recent times in Southeast Asia.
- 1.1
STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
Although exchange rates are affected by many factors, in the end, currency prices are a result of supply and demand forces. The world’s currency markets can be viewed as a huge melting pot: in a large and ever-changing mix of current events, supply and demand factors are constantly shifting, and the price of one currency in relation to another shifts accordingly. No other market encompasses (and distills) as much of what is going on in the world at any given time as foreign exchange.
Supply and demand for any given currency, and thus its value, are not influenced by any single element, but rather by several. These elements generally fall into three categories: economic factors, political conditions and market psychology. This lead to the development of computerized online stock exchange research portal.
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ONLINE STOCK EXCHANGE RESEARCH PORTAL A CASE STUDY OF FIRST BANK ENUGU
