FX week in review: Prospero Markets raided, ThinkMarkets IPO cash gone, PrimaCapital launch
Why did Australia police raid the offices of ASIC licensed CFDs broker Prospero Markets, arrest the company’s controlling shareholder, and freeze Prospero’s accounts?
What happened to (virtually) all the cash at FG Acquisition Corp, the SPAC meant to merger with Retail FX and CFDs broker ThinkMarkets which would take ThinkMarkets public on the Toronto Stock Exchange?
Who launched new Lebanon based broker PrimaCapital?
Who was hired to head ATFX’s Australia operation?
Where did experienced FX industry marketing executive Drosoula Hadjisavva (ex ThinkMarkets, Orbex, BDSwiss, FXCC, IronFX) now become CMO?
Some of the most read and commented-on FX/CFD industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:
Exclusive: Australia police raid ASIC licensed CFDs broker Prospero Markets, accounts frozen. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has raided the offices of Melbourne based, ASIC licensed Retail FX and CFDs broker Prospero Markets, as part of a wider action taken by the AFP against a China based money laundering ring. Prospero Markets has had all its bank accounts frozen, and has halted all client activity since the AFP raid at the end of October. As part of the raid the sole director of Prospero Markets’ ultimate holding company CJ Prime Financial, Ding Wang, was arrested by the AFP alongside a number of other individuals associated with the company.
Exclusive: ThinkMarkets IPO partner FG Acquisition confirms cash reduced from $118M to just $2M. FNG Exclusive… Further to our exclusive report back in July that FG Acquisition Corp (TSE:FGAA.U), the special purpose acquisition company (or SPAC) which has agreed to merge with Retail FX and CFDs broker ThinkMarkets, had seen a mass redemption event whereby virtually all of FG’s public shareholders elected to redeem their shares for cash instead of going ahead with the ThinkMarkets merger, FNG has now learned from regulatory filings made in Canada that FG’s coffers have indeed been nearly emptied from the redemption.
Exclusive: OneRoyal bizdev exec Ali Marwani leaves to start new CFDs broker PrimaCapital. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that longtime OneRoyal executive Ali Marwani has left the company, to start a new Retail FX and CFD brokerage brand called PrimaCapital. PrimaCapital, at website prima-capital.com, will offer trading in a variety of CFDs on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. The company will be operated from Beirut, Lebanon, apparently without any listed licensing or regulation.
CFI adds Category One SCA License in the UAE. Leading online trading provider CFI Financial Group has announced the addition of its newest Category One license, awarded by the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). The new license comes as CFI’s second in the country, adding to the Group’s impressive arsenal of regulatory support in several other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Oman, Mauritius, and other jurisdictions.
Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:
❑ SquaredFinancial hires Drosoula Hadjisavva as CMO, Thomas Selby as CSO.
❑ Exclusive: MultiBank CBDO Roman Krutyanskiy departs.
❑ Exclusive: Orbex brokerage exec Hakam Thalji joins The Trading Pit as Head of Dealing.
❑ ATFX hires Simon Naish as Country Head in Australia.
❑ Binance names Richard Teng its new CEO.