Consolidation continues apace in the FX and CFDs industry. For the second week in a row, one of the “original” retail brokers has offloaded a significant portion of its business.

Who acquired the European client base of FxPro?

Why did Malta regulator MFSA step in and freeze the client accounts of CFDs broker Trive, suspend controlling shareholder Kasim Garipoglu, and hand over management of Trive to accounting firm Grant Thornton?

How will CMC Connect, the B2B arm of online broker CMC Markets, now be known?

Some of the most read and commented-on FX/CFD industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:

Top FX and CFDs industry news stories this week

Capital.com acquires FxPro European client book. Consolidation is certainly the order of the day in the Retail FX and CFDs industry. Following last week’s sale of FXCM UK to Trade Nation and then the acquisition of the rest of the retail brokerage business of FXCM by AvaTrade, Capital.com has announced that it has agreed to buy the European client book of FxPro. Capital.com itself is no stranger to acquisitions, having bought the client book of OvalX (formerly known as ETX Capital) back in 2023.

Trive client accounts frozen by Malta regulator MFSA, Kasim Garipoglu banned. Is Trive done? Malta financial regulator Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has announced that it is taking regulatory Action against Trive Financial Services Europe Limited, which operates the Trive (formerly GKFX) online trading brand. The regulator is also taking action against Trive controlling shareholder Kasim Garipoglu. Trive has operated throughout the EU by passporting its Malta MFSA brokerage license.

CMC Markets ditches CMC Connect brand for institutional offering. 2026 might be known in the multi-asset trading industry, at least in part, as the year of liquidity provider rebranding. After XTB renamed its X Open Hub B2B business as XTB Institutional, and LP Prime rebranded as Evenox, London based online broker CMC Markets (LON:CMCX) has announced that it is bringing its institutional offering under the CMC Markets brand. CMC explained the move as part of its strategy to scale institutional partnerships and strengthen its position as a global multi-asset financial services firm.

Plus500 enters US SEC-regulated brokerage market buying Hedge. Online trading company Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) has announced that it has conditionally agreed to acquire Hedge Capital Markets Inc. Hedge was founded in 2021 by Kyle Al-Rawi and Yash Khandelwal to serve a new generation of US retail investors and to offer access to exchange-listed securities, including stocks and ETFs. The acquisition marks Plus500’s entry into the SEC-regulated segment of the US market and strengthens the foundations for the expected launch of the Group’s US ‘super-app’ in Q1 2027.

Exclusive: FXCM UK acquired by Trade Nation: Revenues $10.8M, Client Cash $110M. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned more details of the UK client business of Retail FX and CFDs broker FXCM, which was sold last week to rival online broker Trade Nation. FXCM UK was sold to Trade Nation ahead of the overall sale of (most of) the rest of FXCM to CFDs broker AvaTrade, announced just several days later.

CXM Group expands to South Africa buying CFDs broker TD Markets. Retail FX and CFDs brokerage operator CXM Group has announced that it has agreed to acquire TD Markets (Pty) Ltd, a Johannesburg-headquartered CFDs broker authorised by South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) as a Financial Services Provider (FSP 49128). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Top FX industry executive moves this week

❑ MAS Markets hires ATFX Australia exec Simon Naish as Head of APAC.

❑ Exclusive: Marios Morfakis leaves CEO role at offshore CFDs broker Noemon.

❑ Exclusive: Edgewater adds B2Prime exec James Wale as Sales Director.

❑ Exclusive: Daman/IG alum Meenaz Sayyed moves to ATFX Connect as MENA Director.

❑ Exclusive: Capital.com hires Pepperstone exec Gabriel Figueiredo as Country Manager Chile.

❑ Exclusive: XTB hires Scalable Capital exec Christopher Weiland as Head of Equities.