FX week in review: Another broker fine, Swissquote results, hires at OvalX and IG, Saxo promotions

Gerald Segal 0 Comments August 14, 2022

Before we get to this week’s top FX Industry News stories, we’re pleased to share that FNG just reported record visitor stats in July 2022, continuing our trajectory since Google made its latest Core Update in late May – FNG traffic has soared while our competitors continue to see their traffic stats shrink. A review of the latest data is out now at SimilarWeb.

In our view, Google’s Core Update has done its stated job well, certainly as far as the FX/CFDs industry is concerned – rewarded sites providing unbiased, non-promotional, original content, while punishing the “copiers” and promoters. (This week’s Top Stories actually provide quite a number of good examples of FNG Exclusive articles and other headlines, copied later on other certain sites in the hours that followed).

We also just powered through the 5,000-LinkedIn-followers mark this week (and are already approaching 5,100…), creating the leading social network in the FX news world. All from a standing start just two years ago.

And now on to this week’s top stories…

Which was the latest Retail FX/CFDs broker to be handed out a fine of €100K+ by Cyprus regulator CySEC – the fourth such fine doled out by CySEC in just the past two weeks?

How did Swiss online trading leader Swissquote deal with the slowing trading environment in 1H-2022? And, what new crypto initiative did the company unveil?

Who are the latest hires at OvalX and IG?

Which executives just got promoted at Saxo Bank?

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:

CySEC reaches €100,000 settlement with Axiance operator ICC Intercertus Capital. The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) today announced a €100,000 settlement with Cyprus investment firm ICC Intercertus Capital Limited. ICC Intercertus Capital operates via brands such as Axiance and Inflyx. The settlement concerns the possible violation, for the period January 2020 until May 2021 of Article 42 of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 on markets in financial instruments, as to complying with paragraph 5 of the Directive for the Restriction on the Marketing, Distribution, and Sale of Contracts for Difference (CFDs) to Retail Clients, regarding the prohibition of participation in circumvention activities.

IC Markets becomes Official Global Partner for Rugby World Cup Sevens. Leading Australia based Forex and CFDs broker IC Markets has announced that it is an Official Global Partner for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, taking place in Cape Town, South Africa between 9th and 11th September 2022. The Rugby World Cup Sevens will be played over three days at the Cape Town Stadium featuring 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams from around the world. IC Markets joins DHL, Castle Lite, FNB and TUDOR as a Global Partner.

Swissquote Revenue down but Profit up in 1H-2022, launching crypto exchange. Leading Swiss online trading firm Swissquote today reported its financial results for the six months to end-June 2022, with revenues down from the equivalent period a year earlier. Operating revenues for the first half of 2022 totaled CHF 204.8 million – a decrease of 23.1 percent compared with the previous year (CHF 266.4 million). When adjusted for negative interest rates (CHF 4.1 million) and after fair value adjustments (CHF 0.7 million), net revenues amounted to CHF 200.0 million, down 24.4 percent from CHF 264.4 million in the prior year.