FNG Exclusive…. FNG has spoken to a spokesperson at the Sheffield United Football Club about the administration filing made by Australian Retail FX broker USGFX, and received an official statement from the club (see below).

As noted in the above-linked article from this morning on FNG, USGFX had signed a three-year front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Sheffield United in mid-2019, coinciding with the broker’s plans to expand in the UK.

The SUFC statement makes reference to the fact that it is the Australian parent company which has filed for administration, not the UK company. However regulatory filings indicate that the UK FCA-regulated company had just a few hundred thousand pounds in capital at hand. And, the original agreement in any event was with the parent Australian company, so we’re not sure how or why it is relevant that USGFX-UK is still formally “active”. It certainly is possible that the company’s new administrators will believe that payments to Sheffield United under the terms of the sponsorship agreement are still to be made, but history has shown us that they are more likely to wind down the company’s operations and focus on returning money to USGFX‘s clients and creditors.

Here is Sheffield United’s statement to us. The statement should be going live soon as well on the club’s website.

Senior officials at Sheffield United have been made aware this morning that the Australian division of our principal partner, Union Standard Group PTY Ltd “USGFX”, has entered voluntary administration.

The global multi-asset broker agreed a three-year term with the Blades at the start of the 2019/20 season to become front of shirt and sleeve sponsor.

A spokesperson for USG has confirmed the following. The directors and management of USGFX are committed to continue working with all parties and assisting with matters to ensure all legal requirements are satisfied.

USG Group, known as USG, consists of several companies, including USG AU, USG UK and others. The news relates only to USG AU and does not influence the financial status or service of USG.

The UK operation, USG UK, which is regulated by the FCA is not affected by this situation and continues to trade as normal.

Sheffield United will not be commenting further on the matter at this time.