Who are Axi’s new owners, following a management buyout?

What steps has Swissquote taken to expand its EU-facing business out of Cyprus?

Why did Saxo Bank kill its plans to go public via a SPAC merger?

Which broker did neobroker BUX just acquire, taking a big step in an important European market?

Answers to these questions, and a whole lot more, appeared first or exclusively this past week at FNG. Some of the most read and commented-on FX industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:

Exclusive: Axi management owners revealed. FNG Exclusive… Further to our exclusive report last month that management of Australia based Retail FX and CFDs broker Axi had bought control of the company from private investment firm RGT Capital in a management buyout (or “MBO”), FNG has learned the identities of the Axi management team members who participated in the buyout, and are now joint part-owners of Axi. Ultimate ownership of Axi is now divided between CEO Rajesh Yohannan, and several of his key management team members, spread across Axi’s offices in Sydney, Singapore, and London.

Exclusive: Swissquote Cyprus CEO Elif Kundakci on new license, and more. FNG Exclusive Interview… Following our exclusive report this week that leading Switzerland based online trading firm Swissquote had received a CIF license from regulator CySEC for its new Cyprus based subsidiary, Swissquote Capital Markets Ltd (CY), we though that this would be a good time to speak with the operation’s new CEO Elif Kundakci about her move to Swissquote, and what the company’s plans are for the new EU-facing business. Here is what she had to say.

Saxo Bank terminates SPAC IPO process, cites “timing”. Copenhagen based Retail FX and CFDs broker Saxo Bank, and its prospective SPAC partner Disruptive Capital Acquisition Co Ltd, have announced the “termination” of discussions regarding their proposed business combination. Disruptive Capital is a special purpose acquisition company (or “SPAC”) which raised capital on a public exchange for the purpose of taking an existing privately held fintech or financial services business public, via a merger of the SPAC and the existing private company.

BUX buys retail arm of Spanish neobroker Ninety Nine. Amsterdam based neobroker BUX has announced the acquisition of the retail brokerage arm of Spanish neobroker Ninety Nine. The transaction gives BUX a stronger presence in the Spanish retail brokerage category. No financial terms of the transaction were released. However FNG has learned that as part of the deal Ninety Nine has agreed to no longer provide retail services in Spain, and will instead focus on its B2B business with brokerages and banks.

Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:

❑ Exclusive: Swissquote hires ex Orbex exec Zoltan Nemeth as COO Cyprus.

❑ Daniela Egli joins The Trading Pit as CEO.

❑ Exclusive: Robert Buxton leaves IS Prime, forms DeepFin Markets.

❑ Finalto hires Antony Parsons as Head of Liquidity.

❑ BidX Markets hires Shaun French as multi-asset research analyst.

❑ Hargreaves Lansdown appoints Dan Olley as CEO.