Union Standard Group International Limited (USG UK), the FCA-regulated business of the embattled forex broker USGFX, has parted ways with its chief executive Damian McDowell.
Soe Hein Min, the USG Group controlling shareholder, will be the sole director of the UK company after McDowell’s departure who had been with the company since August 2021. The outgoing CEO joined the firm from TIO Markets UK Ltd, taking over from Simon Quirke, who ended a three-year stint. Interestingly, Quirke has joined TIO Markets as CEO in February 2022.
There are no details on which led McDowell to quit his role as CEO of Union Standard International Group Limited. However, it is known that the company has been under a rebranding process to distance itself from USGFX Australia, which is already in bankruptcy.
Per a recent filing with the UK Companies House, the company is under the control of State of Samoa-based Union Standard Group International Holdings Limited, while the ultimate controlling party is Soe Hein Minn.
Despite its regulatory woes in Australia and elsewhere, USGFX disclosed earlier this year solid financial metrics for its UK operations. Over the previous fiscal year, the broker saw its operating revenues increase to £1.27 million in FY 2021, up from £63,064 a year ago. However, it’s important to note that although the firm was incorporated in 2018, it did not launch its services until January 2020.
In terms of its bottom line, the firm reported its net profit at a figure of £93,830 for 2021, better than the loss of £347,572 it incurred the previous year.
USGFX’s Aussie brand remains in trouble
In 2020, the board of USGFX announced that the headquarters of the brokerage were moved from Australia to London. Until recently, the UK and Australian entities that shared the same directors with the UK subsidiary are majority-owned by Myanmar-based, Hein Min Soe, who was also a director of the Australian business. However, Hien Min Soe reportedly stepped down as a director of the brokerage’s United Kingdom-based business.
The special administrators of USGFX’s ASIC-regulated brand disclosed that the company was in terrible financial difficulty and that it had a heavy shortfall in client money of more than $348 million.
Additionally, USG Group claims that although it has no control over the liquidation process, it has been processing withdrawal requests for USGFX clients who transferred their accounts to its offshore company.
The brokerage added that it is still determined to retain its brand and global operations, regardless of its current situation and “rather than wasting money and resources on war of words.”
