What new offer emerged this past week for UK online trading and investments house Hargreaves Lansdown? How did the Hargreaves board react, after rejecting a previous offer from the same group of private equity firms just a month ago?

Why did Retail FX and CFDs broker HYCM, which recently underwent a management buyout, have its Cyprus CySEC license withdrawn?

What senior executive moves were carried out by Hantec Markets, Scope Prime, and LMAX, among others?

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

Hargreaves Lansdown shares rise 5% after board decides “to engage” increased offer. Shares of UK online brokerage firm Hargreaves Lansdown plc (LON:HL) traded up sharply on Tuesday, after an increased offer to buy the company emerged ahead of a Wednesday deadline. The original offer for Hargreaves of 985p per share was made in late May by a consortium of private equity suitors including CVC Capital, Nordic Capital, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. This time, the board noted that it has “decided to engage” with the consortium, and provide confirmatory due diligence access to the prospective buyers.

CySEC withdraws license of Forex broker HYCM. The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) today announced the withdrawal of the Cyprus investment firm (CIF) authorisation of HYCM (Europe) Ltd. CySEC made the decision at its meeting held on June 10, 2024. The withdrawal is in line with section 8(1)(a) of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017 and section 4(7) of Directive DI87-05 and is due to the company’s decision to expressly renounce its authorisation.

CMC Markets Revenues top previous guidance at £333 million for FY2024, up 15% YoY. Following a fairly slow FY2023 and initial poor guidance for FY2024 which sent its shares tumbling late into last year, London based online trading firm CMC Markets plc (LON:CMCX) completed a fairly impressive turnaround in the second half of its fiscal 2024 (March 31 year end) to post healthy increases in both Revenues and Profit for the year. Overall, Revenues at CMC Markets came in at £332.8 million in FY2024, up 15% from 2023’s £288.4 million.

Saxo Bank reviews strategic opportunities for APAC presence. Copenhagen based Retail FX and CFDs broker Saxo Bank A/S has decided to initiate a review of strategic opportunities for its Asia-Pacific presence. The review is undertaken to accelerate Saxo’s growth in the region. Following conversations with potential partners, Saxo will be looking to create new partnerships with strong organisations in Asia where the current offices in Australia, Japan, and Hong Kong can form an integral part of the partnerships.

Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:

❑ Hantec Markets hires INFINOX exec Raj Naik to head Marketing.

❑ Exclusive: Blockchain expert Luke Dorney joins LMAX as Head of Custody.

❑ Offshore broker Scope Prime adds ACY/IC Markets alum Andrew Taylor as APAC head.

❑ Exclusive: Curex Managing Director Kevin Cudahy joins LSEG.

❑ Exclusive: Currenex exec Michael Porzio moves to Bloomberg for FX Electronic Solution Sales.

❑ Exclusive: Reactive Markets adds Integral/360T alum Silvia Wong to head APAC BizDev.

❑ Exclusive: BGC exec Richard Brunt joins TraditionData as CRO.