brokerage Archives - The Industry Spread

SAXO Bank Posts Record-Low FX Trading Volumes in November 2018

December 12, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: brokerage, fixed-income trading, FOREX.com, FX business, Fx trading volumes, Saxo Bank, trading volume

Copenhagen-based SAXO Bank which was recently acquired by China’s Geely Group has posted trading volume numbers for November month marking new lows. The overall trading volume is 2.5 times lower than what it received in the record-breaking month of February 2018.

The weak performance is majorly due to the abysmal volatility conditions across the major Fx trading venues that pushed the figure to a new low. The total trading volume during November amounted to $264.9 billion, 13 per cent lower on a month-on-month basis and 32 per cent lower on a yearly basis. The FX business posted a trading volume of $170.4 billion in November, which 9.2 per cent lower on a month-on-month basis and by over 38 per cent on a yearly basis. The average daily volumes totaled $12 billion for all asset and $7.7 billion for FX segment.

In the equity segment, it marked a decline of 20 per cent month-on-month to $67.1 billion in November and on yearly basis, the figure is almost flat. Throughout November, the stock indices witnessed extreme volatility which didn’t help in volumes front.

In the commodity segment, especially the oil & natural gas, the monthly decline was about 7 per cent to $20.9 billion and a 30 per cent decline compared to the last year. The Fixed income trading in November failed to gain momentum and trading activity dropped by almost 30 per cent compared to October and 50 per cent compared to November 2017.

FOREX.COM Volumes Down 10% on a Monthly Basis

After reporting record low volumes in September, the October month for the brokerage was a pretty relief as volumes rebounded by almost 55 per cent month-on-month to $231 billion.

The November month though has been pretty slow for the brokerage with a 10 per cent drop in volumes to $207 billion compared to October 2018 and on a yearly basis, the figure is almost flat with 0.1 per cent increase.

The number of futures contract dropped by 19.7 per cent month-on-month to 654,077 contracts, but on a yearly basis, the figure is 12.3 per cent higher.

Virtu Financial Adds David Urban to its Board

December 12, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Company News, Industry News Tagged: brokerage, David Urban, High-speed trading, liquidity provider, Robert Greifeld, Virtu Financial

David Urban

High-speed trading and liquidity provider, Virtu Financial has added David Urban to its Board of Directors with immediate effect. Urban has over two decades of experience in senior-level roles in US government, law and consultancy.

Currently, he is President of the American Continental Group (ACG), where he worked for almost 17 years. He has strong experience in mergers and acquisition, which will come as an added advantage given the fact that Virtu is set to acquire ITG, a multi-national agency brokerage in a deal worth $1 billion. Prior to working for ACG, Urban was the Chief of Staff for Arlen Specter, from 1997 until January 2002 and has also served as US Senator for Pennsylvania during that time. And prior to this role at Arlen Specter, Urban was an Attorney at Ballard Spahr LLP and an officer in the US Army.

Commenting on the appointment of David Urban to the Board of Directors, Robert Greifeld, Virtu’s Chairman said:

“David’s deep experience as a business and governmental relations executive and demonstrated leadership acumen will add significant value to our Board of Directors. We look forward to benefiting from his expertise.”

Gaitame Reports Weak Set of Trading Data for November Month Despite Growth in Client Account

December 11, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: brokerage, Capital Markets, Financial markets, foreign exchange, Forex, Gaitame, Japan, trading

The trading transaction volume fell, both on a monthly and yearly basis and deposits with broker also went down slightly.

Japan’s leading forex broking house, Gaitame on Monday has published the November trading metric, reporting yet another weak set of performance despite growth in accounts.

The November’s transactional volume was reported weak compared to both monthly and yearly figures with total coming in at ¥169.1 billion ($1.5 billion), a decline of 21.6 per cent when compared against the previous month which was ¥215.8 billion.

The total deposit with the broker at the end of November stands at ¥115.6 billion which represents a slight increase of 0.3 per cent from the previous month, as the broker recorded a figure of ¥115.2 billion in October 2018.

Moving on to the broker’s deposit totals, in November Gaitame disclosed a figure of ¥115.6 billion. This represents an ever-so-slight increase of 0.3 per cent from the previous month, as the broker recorded a figure of ¥115.2 billion in October. When compared to the yearly basis, the figure is 1 per cent less from ¥116.8 billion. For the brokerage house, the deposits were continuously on a rising trend, but from March this year, it is struggling to keep the rising trend intact.

In terms of client accounts during the month, the broker recorded a total 474,933 accounts in November, a slight increase of 2,355 accounts or 0.5 per cent compared to the previous month. Last year in November, the brokerage reported 445,917 client accounts which represent an increase of 6.1 per cent year-on-year.

IG Group Suffers Revenue Declines by 6% Y-o-Y in the H1-FY 19 on Account of Strict ESMA Regulations

December 5, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: brokerage, ESMA regulations, financial results, IG GROUP, Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer, trading services

IG Group, the UK trading major has reported the financial results of the first half of fiscal 2019. IG Group Holdings (LON: IGG) has reported a 6 per cent year-on-year revenue decline due to strict ESMA regulations. The drop in revenue and profitability comes after the record-setting fiscal 2018.

In the wake of new European regulatory measures limiting leverage for retail class traders, the brokerage has reported 10 per cent year-on-year decline in global revenue for the four months between August and November.

Regional wise, the revenue in the four month period in the UK and EU region is projected to be 20 per cent lower while APAC and non-ESMA region countries expecting a 9 per cent higher revenue, thus offsetting the impact of ESMA regulations. The figures mentioned are adjusted for the 1200 clients who previously contracted with the UK entity and have chosen to move outside of the ESMA regulation.

In a statement, IG Group said:

“The number of clients in the UK and EU who have elected to be classified as professional continued to increase during the period. Around 70% of UK and EU revenue in the four months since all the measures were introduced has been generated by professional clients.”

During the first half, new clients from APAC and non-ESMA regions have remained constant with very little variation compared to the last year which is 6,400 vs 6,361 last year. In the ESMA regulated region, only 8,200 new clients signed up which 20 per cent lower from 11,666 clients added last year in the same period.

For the Brexit event, the company has secured BaFin license in Germany which will help to continue offering its services in the EU. IG Group is now also planning its expansion to offer trading services in the USA, where its subsidiary has also been approved as the member of National Futures Association (NFA) and is now registered to operate as a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED).

The next performance announcement from IG Group will be the financial results for the six months ended 30 November 2018 on 22 January 2019.

UBS Securities Pays $120,000 Infringement Notice

November 25, 2018 by industryspread Leave a Comment Filed Under: Regulatory Annoucements Tagged: ASIC, ASIC Regulatory Guide, brokerage, exchange market, Market Integrity Rules, Markets Disciplinary Panel, MDP, price improvement, trading, UBS, UBS Securities Australia Limited

UBS Securities Australia Limited (‘UBS’) has paid a penalty totalling $120,000 to comply with an infringement notice given by the Markets Disciplinary Panel (‘the MDP’).

The MDP had reasonable grounds to believe that UBS contravened Rule 3.3.1(b) of the ASIC Market Integrity Rules (ASX Market) 2010. The MDP found that a number of transactions in relation to six on-market buy-backs conducted by UBS on the ASX market in 2017 were not in the ordinary course of trading and were not in accordance with the clients’ instructions.

UBS purchased approximately 18 million securities over a 7-month period in relation to the buy-backs in circumstances where UBS purchased the securities other than by the matching of orders on an order book. UBS reported the transactions to ASX as ‘Trades with Price Improvement’.

ASIC Regulatory Guide 223: Guidance on ASIC market integrity rules for competition in exchange markets (May 2015) states that ‘Trades with Price Improvement’ are not in the ordinary course of trading and are not permitted for on-market buy-backs. The MDP considers that guidance to correctly reflect the law and prevailing market practice.

The MDP considers that UBS’ conduct was careless. The traders that executed the trades did not know such trades were not in the ordinary course of trading. UBS’s internal training was not sufficient. UBS’ internal controls were not effective.

UBS has subsequently adopted remedial measures including conducting further training for the traders, updating the equities desk manual, and is implementing or developing trade monitoring enhancements.

The MDP accepts that there was no intention to contravene the market integrity rules. The conduct neither caused financial loss to UBS’ clients or to third parties nor benefitted UBS beyond the brokerage that would otherwise have been received by UBS.

Download the infringement notice

The compliance with the infringement notice is not an admission of guilt or liability, and UBS is not taken to have contravened subsection 798H(1) of the Corporations Act.

SAXO Bank Launches New Trading Platform “SaxoInvestor” to Cater to the Needs of Growing Segment of Investors

November 21, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: bonds, brokerage, Capital Markets, diversified portfolio, investment platform, investors, Kim Fournais, Mutual Funds, Saxo Bank, SaxoInvestor, SaxoTraderGO, stocks, trading platform

Saxo Bank the Danish-based multi-asset brokerage firm has today announced the launch of a new trading platform “SaxoInvestor”- a user-friendly and simpler investment platform customised to its growing segment of investors. The platform will allow investors to build long-term portfolios across stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs and SaxoSelect portfolios.

The platform is built on the existing technology on which other platforms such as SaxoTraderGO and SaxoTraderPRO have been built. The new SaxoInvestor has a simpler interface and can cater best to the needs of the typical investors.

According to the company, SaxoInvestor gives investors access solely to cash products and the main USP of the platform is that it is loaded with a new feature called “investment themes” which cover several long-term investment trends such as robotics, electric vehicles, ESG and cybersecurity. In a statement, the company said:

“Today, SaxoInvestor is now available for the broker’s clients based in Denmark with the firm planning to roll out the product internationally by the first quarter of 2019. In addition, from now on, SaxoInvestor will be a key part of the Group’s white label and partner offering across markets. This is because the platform has been designed to be both flexible and customisable.”

Kim Fournais, CEO of Saxo Bank

Kim Fournais, the CEO & founder, commented on the launch:

“The opportunities for investors have for too long been constrained by limited access to international stocks, high and opaque prices and outdated technology. With SaxoInvestor, we make it much simpler to build a diversified portfolio across markets and offer high-quality inspiration on the major investment themes that shape the future of this world.”

He added: “The investor segment is among the fastest growing. And by leveraging our state-of-the-art technology and access to global capital markets, we deliver a product perfectly tailored to the investor with a longer investment horizon. For this segment, it is paramount to not only diversify across markets and asset classes but to do so at low costs.”

Jefferies Appoints Fred Jallot to Lead European Fixed Income Division and IG Group Promotes Kevin Algeo to Head of Asia Pacific and Africa Division

November 20, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: brokerage, emerging markets, fixed income, Fred Jallot, Fred Orlan, IG GROUP, Investment banking, Jefferies, Kevin Algeo, Retail Fx

Fred Orlan, Global Head of Fixed Income at Jefferies

Jefferies Appoints Former Nomura Executive Fred Jallot as Head of European Fixed Income Division

American multinational investment banking company, Jefferies Group has confirmed that former Nomura global head of emerging markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Fred Jallot, is joining the firm.

Fred Jallot will be heading the firm’s European fixed income in London and start his role with Jefferies on January 2, 2019. He will be reporting to Fred Orlan, the Global Head of Fixed Income at Jefferies, in New York.

Fred Jallot’s professional career spans over two decades in the financial industry and has managed several senior level management roles. He joined Nomura in 2017 but left the organisation in mid of 2018. Before working for Nomura, he had worked with Citi where was responsible for Global Securitised Markets and Global Credit Markets.

Fred Orlan, commenting on the appointment:

“We are very excited to have Fred Jallot join Jefferies’ leading global fixed income platform. As a broadly experienced professional in global fixed income, his relationships and leadership will further enhance Jefferies’ growth in this market.”

“This senior hire is an example of Jefferies’ emphasis on enhancing our firm’s European capabilities to serve our regional and global client base.”

Kevin Algeo, IG Group Head of Asia Pacific and Africa operations

IG Group Promotes Kevin Algeo to Head of Asia Pacific and Africa operations

The UK-based online retail fx brokerage company, IG Group has promoted Kevin Algeo, CEO of Australia operations as Head of the Asia Pacific and Africa. Kevin is associated with IG Group since 2013 and has started his tenure as Managing Director in South Africa. Kevin spent almost four years in the position before moving to lead the Australia operations.

In Australia, Kevin Algeo started as Deputy CEO in Melbourne and was promoted to CEO in June last year. IG Group has been handling clients support system across the globe via different regional entities. IG’s London office is used to be the home for global users in most of the cases.

XTB Report Sharp Drop in Revenue and Profitability in Q3-2018 Driven by ESMA Regulations

November 10, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: brokerage, CFD Trading, ESMA, Forex, PFSA, Retail Fx, Trading Volumes, XTB

The Polish retail Fx brokerage firm, XTB after reporting fairly strong H1-2018 results, now has reported a weak set of Q3-2018 results mainly due to the negative impact of implementation of ESMA regulations coupled with lower volatility in the market. During the period, the firm also reported lower trading volumes in CFD trading.

XTB operates retail arm XTB.com and X Open trading platform has reported total revenue of PLN 47.6 million (USD $12.7 million) for the three months period, which is 43 percent lower compared to PLN 84.2 million in Q2-2018. The first quarter result was the best-ever quarter for the brokerage firm with record revenues of PLN 113.7 million.

The company reported a net loss of PLN 2.9 million in the third quarter, majorly due to a one-off event that led to firm paying administrative fines of PLN 9.9 million to PFSA. Excluding the one-off event, the profit is reported at PLN 6.2 million which is significantly less than that achieved in the same quarter in 2017 of PLN 31.3 million.

Despite the decline in trading volumes due to the implementation by ESMA of a 30x leverage cap on Forex and CFD trading, a number of new clients continued to grow with 16.3 percent year on year growth. New clients in Q3 totaled 4,884 and the average number of active clients higher by 11 percent year on year or 2014.

In revenue breakup, 59 percent of the total revenue was contributed by Commodity CFDs i.e PLN 27.9 million, and Index CFDs contributed just 18.6 percent to the revenue. The currency CFDs recorded a revenue of PLN 10.4 million in the third quarter, which is not in line with the expectation of the broker as it dropped over 64 percent to PLN 18.9 million from the prior year period. Total revenue generated from CFDs is PLN 47.3 million in the Q3-2018 compared to PLN 72.5 million in the same period year earlier, signifying a drop of 33 percent.

Leading FX & CFD Broker eToro Launches Crypto Wallet

November 9, 2018 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Bitcoin, brokerage, crypto wallet, cryptocurrency wallet, eToro, eToro Launches, eToro wallet, retail broker, Social Trading

Yoni Assia, Co-founder and CEO at eToro

Global investment platform eToro has rolled out its cryptocurrency wallet as a mobile application available via Google Play and the Apple App Store.

As the social trading and multi-asset brokerage company launches the eToro wallet, the UK FCA and CySEC regulated retail broker takes another step on its leading role in cryptocurrency territory.

The eToro wallet provides an easy to use customer interface and enhanced security with a multi-signature access to allow users to see their on-blockchain transactions and balances without the fear of losing their private key.

The company already has over 10 million registered users and over 260 million trades opened on the platform. Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro, commented on the launch of the broker’s crypto wallet:

“We believe that crypto and the blockchain technology that underpins it will have a huge impact on global finance. Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize finance and we believe that we will see the greatest transfer of wealth ever onto the blockchain. We believe that in the future all assets will be tokenized and that crypto is just the first step on this journey. Just as eToro has opened up traditional markets for investors, we want to do the same in a tokenized world. The eToro wallet is a key part of this […] The eToro wallet today is just the beginning and we will add a whole host of additional functionality which will include supporting additional crypto and fiat tokens, crypto to crypto conversion, the ability to deposit fiat, payment in-store and more.”

The crypto wallet will be launched on a phased basis both in terms of users, with a country by country roll out, and functionality, In order to ensure the best customer experience for clients. Initially, users will be able to store Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin in their eToro wallet, and other cryptocurrencies will be added over time. Only Platinum Club members will be able to transfer Bitcoin from eToro to the wallet. This also will be extended to more users and a greater number of crypto assets in a gradual manner.

eToro is one of the most active retail FX and CFD brokers in the cryptocurrency arena. The company launched its digital asset offering in the United States in May 2018. In October 2018, the firm led by Yoni Assia decided to cut spreads on cryptocurrency trading by more than half in some cases in an effort to drive more trading volume into the platform.

RBS and Nomura Makes Key Senior Level Hiring

October 23, 2018 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: brokerage, FX industry, FX sales, Manish Ghia, Martin Amann, Nomura, Option trader, RBS, Senior Level Hiring

RBS Taps Former BNP Paribas Senior Trader Martin Amann as its Head of Fx Sales

Royal Bank of Scotland has made a key hiring of a former senior trader, Martin Amann of BNP Paribas as Head of its FX Sales. Martin will join RBS as its Director of Fx sales and will be responsible for enhancing overall product offering and expanding client franchise.

Martin Amman has over two decades of experience of the Fx industry and has worked with some of the leading banks and brokerage houses that include Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and BNP. He made his entry to the financial space in 1997 as VP Fx Spot/Option trader with AIG based out of New York. he then categorically moved to Credit Suisse as Director of the Global macro sales division.

He joined BNP Paribas in 2013 as Head of Fx sales and continued in the position for almost four years, as per his LinkedIn profile.

Nomura Appoints Former MD, Merill Lynch Asia, Manish Ghia as Head of Prime Finance, Asia

Nomura has appointed former MD at Merill Lynch’s Asia Division, Manish Ghia as Head of Prime Finance in Asia. He would be joining the Japanese form in December, as per reported by Global Investor. Manish Ghia was also ML’s Head of APR Securities Lending.

Ghia’s appointment was a result of Chris Antonelli resignations from the firm’s Prime Finance service in Asia. Chris Antonelli was with Nomura for over 10 years as Head of Prime Finance. He joined the firm as MD in 2008 and climbed several corporate ladders to be promoted as Head of Prime Finance in 2010, the position which he held for almost eight years. Antonelli joined the firm in 2008 from Lehman Brothers, which went down due to bankruptcy.

For Nomura, Antonelli’s departure was the only major shakeup in its organisational structure. Now Manish Ghia will look after all the roles Chris Antonelli managed while strengthening the Nomura’s prime brokerage offering.