Switzerland-based interdealer broker Compagnie Financière Tradition today reported better-than-expected earnings for the second half of 2021, having made CHF 421 million in revenues compared to CHF 390 million in the prior semester.
At current exchange rates, CFT’s revenue was up 6.8 percent, while on a constant basis, consolidated revenue rose 6.1 percent from a year earlier.
Taking a quarterly perspective, the group posted CHF 219 million in revenue for the three months through December compared with CHF 205 million in the Q4 2020. This figure is up 5.5 percent at constant exchange rates.
For the same period, the group’s consolidated adjusted revenue was CHF 239.3m, compared with CHF 220.8m in 2020, up 7.1% at constant exchange rates. The interdealer broking business was up 5.9% and the forex trading business for retail investors in Japan rose 42.7% respectively.
Compagnie Financière Tradition shared a few details about its operational metrics, but the company said its performance in the second half of 2021 should be put into perspective with “the exceptional volume of activity in the same period last year, particularly in March and to a lesser extent in April.”
2021 has been the busiest trading year on record, with almost all big brokers and major exchanges sensing the intensity of the huge turnover that was only seen in the depths of the financial crisis in October 2008.
But following the boom in activity seen at major trading venues throughout the previous year, many platforms turned to suffer lackluster turnover, and some were even in a sea of red in the H2 2021.
For the fiscal year 2021, reported consolidated revenue was CHF 873.6 million compared with CHF 903.0 million in 2020, down 2.9% at constant exchange rates.
“The Group’s activities progressed in the second half of 2021 after a period of normalization of activity during the first half of the financial year given the extreme volatility on the financial markets at the very beginning of the health crisis,” the company said.
Compagnie Financiere Tradition acts as a marketplace and intermediary that facilitates transactions between financial institutions and traders in the capital markets. The multi-asset interdealer broker is active in many cash and derivative markets, including interest rate, FX, equities bonds and commodity-related markets. CFT operates across both exchange-traded and over-the-counter markets in approximately 30 countries worldwide.
Compagnie Financière Tradition is listed on the Swiss SIX under ticker CFT and owns Japanese foreign exchange broking giant Gaitame.
