FX week in review: Axiance launch, Match-Trade in Cyprus, hires at Equiti and USGFX

Gerald Segal 0 Comments August 14, 2021

What Retail FX brand did Axiance replace?

Which former MetaQuotes executive did Match-Trade hire to run its new Cyprus office?

Who is the new CMO at Equiti Group?

Which former TIOMarkets executive was named CEO of USGFX’s UK operation?

Answers to these questions and a whole lot more (XTX Markets’ amazing 2020 results, StoneX’s latest Retail FX acquisition, Forex.com’s revenue shortfall…) appeared first or exclusively this 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: Axiance launches, replacing EverFX. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that Axiance, the new retail FX brand being launched by CySEC licensed ICC Intercertus Capital Ltd, has gone live with its new website and offering. Visitors to the website of the company’s old brand, EverFX, now redirect automatically to axiance.com. As was exclusively reported by FNG at the beginning of June, ICC Intercertus decided to phase out the old EverFX brand and relaunch commercially using a new brand, Axiance, with Axiance positioning and differentiating itself as an “ESG friendly” broker. To date, they have started down that road by sponsoring sports events and athletes which match that theme – such as the Copa del Rey de Vela regatta, and Olympian cyclist Antri Christophorou. They are also operating out of solar powered offices in Limassol, Cyprus.

Exclusive: Market-maker XTX Markets sees 2020 Revenue soar 92% to £651M. FNG Exclusive… 2020 was a very good year for the Retail FX and CFDs industry, alongside many of those who trade for a living. And, not surprisingly, for those who serve those brokers and large traders. FNG has learned from regulatory filings that London based multi-asset market maker XTX Markets has continued on its amazing growth path, posting a whopping 92% (!!) increase in Revenues during 2020 to £651.9 million (USD $903 million), versus £339.8 million in 2019. The company earned £149.9 million in Net Profit in 2020, up from £138.7 million in 2019, and paid out dividends of £174.6 million to its shareholders.

StoneX dives deeper into retail trading, buying Chasing Returns. Brokerage house StoneX is apparently looking to increase its footprint with online retail traders, and has acquired a majority interest in Dublin, Ireland based fintech company Chasing Returns. The Irish Times has reported that StoneX (NASDAQ:SNEX), which took over retail trader focused brokerages Forex.com and City Index as part of its $236 million acquisition of Gain Capital last year, has already integrated Chasing Returns’ software into Forex.com and City Index. Chasing Returns uses behavioural science to help (mainly) amateur traders improve their returns. The company’s tools also help forex brokers with client retention, believing that all solutions to retention problems must be based on understanding and responding to how traders behave, not on how we think they should behave.

Forex.com and City Index revenues down 31% in Apr-Jun 2021 quarter. New York based brokerage group StoneX (NASDAQ:SNEX) has reported its fiscal third quarter 2021 results (for the calendar April-June quarter, as the company has a September 30 fiscal year end), indicating that revenues slowed from the previous quarter, especially in its FX and CFDs brokerage business – which consists mainly of the Forex.com and City Index brands, acquired as part of the $236 million acquisition of Gain Capital in mid 2020. Forex.com (and City Index) client trading volumes came in at $9.65 billion ADV in April-June, down by 13% from $11.14 billion in January-March 2021 – translating into about $202 billion of monthly FX/CFD trading volumes this past quarter at the company.