FX week in review: Broker profit records, New Zealand license, more sponsorships
Which Retail FX broker generated $320 million in Net Profit in the first half of 2020?
Which FX broker got a New Zealand license?
Which is the next soccer team to don the logo of a Retail FX broker on its jersey?
Which Chinese-owned FCA-licensed broker had a successful first year of operation, and made a long-term commitment to London?
Which senior manager at a leading, publicly traded FX broker made a large spread bet – on shares of his own employer?
Where did AxiTrader‘s Head of Middle East move to?
Answers to these questions and a whole lot more appeared exclusively this week at FNG. Some of the top forex industry news items to appear on the pages of FNG this past week included:
Plus500 generates $320 million in profit in 1H-2020. We knew it was going to be a good report, but the numbers still seem amazing. Retail FX and CFDs broker Plus500 (LON:PLUS) announced its results for the first six months of 2020 this morning, indicating record profits of $320 million, on what we already knew were record Revenues of $564 million for Plus500. Plus500 said it remains the leading CFD provider in the UK, Germany and Spain, according to Investment Trend reports. And with all that money….
Plus500 becomes front-of-shirt sponsor for Legia Warsaw FC. Retail FX and CFDs broker Plus500 has added another sports sponsorship to its stable which already includes Atlético Madrid, signing a two-year deal to become the main front-of-shirt sponsor for Polish soccer league Ekstraklasa champions Legia Warsaw. The sponsorship will cover the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons. Plus500 replaces central European betting firm Fortuna as Legia Warsaw’s main sponsor. Plus500 stated that its sponsorships of popular professional sports clubs have been highly successful to date, increasing global brand recognition.
Going onshore: BlackBull Markets gets NZ derivatives issuer license. Auckland, New Zealand based Retail FX and CFDs broker BlackBull Markets has announced that it has received a Derivatives Issuer license in its home country from New Zealand’s financial regulator, the FMA. BlackBull was founded in 2014 by Managing Director Michael Walker, and has operated since then as a registered (but unlicensed) financial services provider in the country. BlackBull also has an offshore, Seychelles incorporated entity.
Exclusive: Acetop UK posts 2019 revenue of £1.9 million. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned via regulatory filings that FCA licensed Retail FX, CFDs and spread betting broker Acetop Financial Limited had a fairly successful first full year of operation. The company brought in £1.9 million of Revenue in 2019, and eked out a net profit of £87,000. In 2018 Acetop recorded just £18,000 in Revenue and posted a net loss of £1.66 million, as it geared up for taking on clients in 2019. Acetop clients generated $4.6 billion of total trading volume in 2019, with a focus on Spot Gold, Spot Crude Oil, and Spot FX. The majority of flow was driven through outsourced liquidity, which was principally matched with institutional partners.
In FX industry executive moves and news reported this week at FNG:

❑ Exclusive: Head of Dealing Matt Brief makes £367K spread bet in IG shares.
❑ Exclusive: SquaredFinancial hires AxiTrader’s Filippo De Rosa as Head of Sales.
❑ Exclusive: New IG Group CFO Charlie Rozes granted $750K in stock.