FX week in review: Axi fixes license issues, TIOmarkets CEO leaves, Gain leaving UK retail FX?

Gerald Segal 0 Comments March 6, 2021

Our Forex Industry News weekend summary article is usually a convenient review of the most visited and talked-about posts we’ve written during the past seven days. However sometimes it is about what we didn’t write about, and undoing the damage of incorrect information posted elsewhere.

And it seems as though this is one of those weeks.

A number of our readers contacted us mid week with a weird question, asking if it were true that Gain Capital – owner of the FOREX.com and City Index brands – was getting out of the Retail FX business in the UK. (And if so why hadn’t we written about it!). The reason for the questions, apparently, was an “exclusive” article on another FX blog about Gain Capital “winding down” its FX business in the UK.

The article was of course wrong. We think that what happened was a writer at that blog saw a regulatory filing showing that Gain UK reduced its capital levels to near nil. Misunderstanding the filing to mean that Gain was on the way out of the UK, he then raced to get out that blog’s first real “exclusive” in quite a while. The writer began the article with “StoneX, which acquired Gain Capital in 2020, is planning to phase out its FX retail business in the UK…”. Turns out, it was of course just StoneX moving capital out of Gain’s UK subsidiary, not really needed now after StoneX bought Gain Capital last summer. Nothing to do with phasing out its FX business in the UK or anywhere else.

We would note that the blog has since changed the title of the article from “Gain Capital Winds Down FX Business in the UK”, to just “StoneX Integrates Gain Capital’s FX Brand in the UK”. (We assume that happened after an animated call from Gain. You can still see the original title wording in the url of the article in question.) Again, as far as we know the real brands of Gain in the UK, FOREX.com and City Index, are not changing or winding down or phasing out whatsoever.

And now on to what was indeed posted here on FNG this week…

Exclusive: Axi resolves license issues with ASIC. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that Retail FX brokerage group AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Ltd – which recently rebranded from AxiTrader to just Axi – has worked with Australian regulator ASIC to agree license conditions, as the regulator has withdrawn the proposed suspension of Axi’s AFS license. Axi confirmed that on February 15, 2021 ASIC agreed to withdraw the proposed suspension of Axi’s Australian Financial Services License. In early 2020 ASIC announced that it was going to suspend Axi’s AFS license for four months.

Exclusive: TIO Markets sees departure of longtime CEO Damian McDowell. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that Damian McDowell has left TIO Markets, after serving as CEO of the Retail FX and CFDs broker for the past five years. Damian McDowell joined the FCA regulated TIO Markets UK Limited – then known as FXPrimus Capital Markets UK – in 2016 from KapSecure Asset Management, where he was COO. TIO Markets operates both an onshore, FCA regulated business and an offshore unit based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. While Mr. McDowell was based in London, most of the company’s functions are run from Cyprus. The company is controlled by Malaysian businessman Manmohan Singh Balbir Singh, who also owns Cyprus based Retail FX broker FXPrimus.

Admiral Markets to rebrand as “Admirals”. Reported First on FNG… Estonia-based, global Retail FX and CFDs brokerage group Admiral Markets has published its Annual Report for 2020, indicating significant growth and record results for the company. The company also indicated that in 2020, it started preparations for the rebranding of the company as it is on its way to becoming a global financial hub. In 2021 the group noted that it will launch “Admirals” as the new brand of the company. On the top line, Admiral Markets’ revenue (what it terms “Net trading income”) totaled €47.1 million for 2020, more than double the previous year’s €23.2 million. EBITDA of €21.6 million and Net Profit of €20.3 million were up 271% and 340%, respectively, over 2019.

IS Prime and Reactive Markets launch multi-asset trading and risk system. Prime of Prime institutional broker IS Prime has announced that it has launched a new trading GUI and risk system in partnership with trading platform startup Reactive Markets, particularly aimed at its growing client base of FX hedge funds and asset managers. This latest development from the FCA regulated Prime of Prime allows clients to combine their position management, charting, technical analysis, risk management and trading across FX, indices, cryptocurrencies and precious metals. Alongside this, clients are able to access trade analytics including slippage and latency statistics enabling them to trade more efficiently and effectively on IS Prime’s liquidity.