Quite a variety of FX and CFDs industry news stories this past week, ranging from IPO talk to M&A to broker results and a number of management shuffles at leading retail and institutional sector names.
What valuation is eToro targeting in an IPO that the company is examining in either the US or the UK?
What licensed broker did Swissquote acquire?
What were the two C-Suite management changes made this week at IG Group?
Why is Capital.com halting the onboarding of clients in the UK?
Which retail prop trading firm has halted payouts to clients? And why?
Some of the most read and commented-on FX/CFD industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:
eToro targeting $3.5 billion+ valuation in London or New York IPO. eToro CEO Yoni Assia was quoted over the weekend in UK business news site Financial Times (ft.com) saying that the company is considering going public in an IPO this year, after seeing client trading volumes rise in recent weeks to “levels of activity that we haven’t seen since 2021.” According to Assia, the company is targeting a valuation of at least $3.5 billion – well below the $10 billion valuation eToro tried to go public at in 2021-2022 via a SPAC merger.
Swissquote sees record Revenue and Profit in 2H-2023, acquires Optimatrade. Leading Switzerland based online banking and trading provider Swissquote (SWX:SQN) has released its final financial figures for 2023, confirming a strong year 2023 with Revenues, Profits and client assets at record levels, while heading to 2024 with positive momentum. Swissquote also announced the acquisition of Optimatrade Investment Partners (Pty) Ltd, a company domiciled in Cape Town, South Africa.
Capital.com halts onboarding of UK clients. London based Retail FX and CFDs broker Capital.com has posted a note on its website in the UK that it has made the decision to pause onboarding new clients in the UK, for now. The note states that the company has “grown rapidly” as a business, and Capital.com wants to make sure that all its systems, controls, products and services are provided to the high standards that are demanded by clients, management, shareholder and regulators.
Exclusive: Prop firm The Funded Trader halts payouts amid ‘self imposed internal audit’. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that prop trading firm The Funded Trader has halted payouts to its clients. Miami based The Funded Trader is one of a number of leading prop trading firms serving retail clients which has been forced to stop using MetaTrader trading platforms (MT4 and MT5) amid a crackdown by MetaTrader developer MetaQuotes on brokers (and introducers) who take on US retail clients, without being duly licensed to do so. However the transition to new platforms (and often new executing brokers) has not gone smoothly for all prop firms.
Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:
❑ Exclusive: Saxo Bank CMO Emil Valdemar Madsen leaves for Mindshare.
❑ Charlie Rozes (CFO and former CEO) to leave IG Group.
❑ United Fintech management shuffle: new CFO, CCO, Athena CEO named.
❑ Hannah Robson joins iSAM Securities as Sales Director.
❑ Advanced Markets’ VP Anya Aratovskaya leaves for FOUNT Global.
❑ Spotex hires Integral alum Stuart Peck for institutional sales.
❑ Exclusive: oneZero promotes Nikolas Aresti to Director of Operations.
❑ MahiMarkets adds B2Broker alum Omar Al-Ali to head new Dubai office.
❑ Exclusive: IG Group’s Head of Marketing Partnerships Aneira Henery-Morley departs.
