StoneX Group retires the City Index brand on September 12, 2026, folding a London retail trading name that has been in the market since 1983 into a new banner called StoneX Trading. Coverage of the September 9 announcement led on a 19% fall in retail FX and CFD revenue. That figure is real and it is in the filing — but it is the mildest of the three declines the filing discloses, and the steepest one has gone unreported.
The segment table in StoneX’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, filed August 5, sets out the sequence. Self-Directed/Retail operating revenues fell 13.0%, to $96.3 million from $110.7 million. Net operating revenues fell 16.8%, to $64.4 million from $77.4 million. Segment income before tax fell 35.7%, to $24.9 million from $38.7 million. The 19% belongs to one line inside that segment — FX/CFD contract operating revenues, $64.7 million against $79.6 million a year earlier. Profit contracted close to three times faster than revenue, and that is the number the rebrand coverage left out.
The mechanism sits in the expense lines, and it is not a cost-cutting story. Non-variable expenses in the segment were effectively flat at $34.7 million against $35.0 million while net operating revenues dropped $13.0 million. Selling and marketing rose to $9.7 million from $8.9 million — 10.1% of segment operating revenues, against 8.0% a year earlier. Shared services charged into the segment went to $4.0 million from $1.6 million. StoneX is spending more to market a shrinking retail book while allocating more group overhead to it, and operating leverage is running in reverse.
At group level that book is now a small share of the whole. StoneX reported total operating revenues of $1,468.0 million for the quarter against $1,024.3 million, up 43%, with consolidated income before tax of $159.8 million against $85.6 million. Retail supplied 6.6% of group operating revenues. The goodwill schedule makes the internal ranking explicit: $6.1 million is allocated to Self-Directed/Retail out of $301.8 million across the group, against $162.6 million in Institutional. Retail is not failing here. It is being de-emphasised against segments that are compounding.
The company frames the change as continuity. “For decades, City Index has earned the trust of traders by delivering reliable platforms, broad market access and high-quality client services,” said Giles Watts, Regional Business Director, EMEA – Self Directed at StoneX. “The real change is in the brand behind the experience that reflects the additional scale, expertise and global capabilities of StoneX.” Alastair Hine, Global Head of Self Directed at StoneX, added that “StoneX Trading represents our ambition for the future of self-directed trading.” Existing clients keep their platforms, accounts and support arrangements; new account openings move to StoneX Trading from September 12.
What the release does not say is also reporting. It makes no mention of FOREX.com, the other retail brand StoneX inherited with GAIN Capital, which remains a separate proposition — the group is consolidating one label, not the category. Rivals have stayed publicly silent on the retirement. The regulatory direction is less ambiguous: the Financial Conduct Authority’s CP26/23 proposals would split UK CFD books into UK and non-UK clients, the European Securities and Markets Authority’s 2026 common supervisory action is examining CFD conflicts of interest, and the FCA’s finding that three quarters of UK retail share trades are off-tick points at the same margin pressure. StoneX’s own answer has been product reach rather than retreat, as when FOREX.com joined the weekend gold CFD wave.
City Index was founded in London in 1983 and pioneered retail spread betting before adding CFDs in 2001, according to its published corporate history. GAIN Capital bought it in November 2014; StoneX, then INTL FCStone, acquired GAIN in 2020. That legacy is still being settled: the 10-Q records a $6.2 million settlement in the nine months to June 30, 2026 of a matter outstanding prior to the GAIN Capital acquisition. Over the same nine months, segment income before tax fell to $73.4 million from $115.2 million.
The volume data indicates what to watch after September 12. Retail FX/CFD average daily volume fell 27%, to $6.805 billion from $9.277 billion, while revenue per million rose 11%, to $147 from $133. StoneX is capturing more from each dollar traded and has fewer dollars trading, which is a client-acquisition problem rather than a pricing one — and it is precisely the problem a brand migration risks worsening in the first two quarters. If the December quarter shows retail RPM holding while ADV falls again, the rebrand will have cost more than it recovered. The 19% headline will be the least of it.
Rick Steves
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011. He holds a degree in Business Administration and has experience producing real-time news, from both buy-side and sell-side, as well as for retail traders, brokers and service providers. Steves' work has appeared in a variety of online publications including FX Street, NewsBTC, FinanceFeeds, and The Industry Spread. Rick has great interest in the dynamics of the trading industry. The never-ending clash between technology, economics, regulation, and more importantly, the people.
