FX week in review: RaiseFX launch, NAGA and XTB record results, Hantec CEO
It was a very busy week of Forex Industry News, on many fronts – new brand launches, executive moves, record results, acquisitions – and it was all reported first or exclusively on FNG!
Who is behind the launch of new Retail FX brand RaiseFX?
Which former FX prime brokerage execs launched crypto exchange Crossover Markets?
Which Retail FX broker did JFD acquire?
Who is Hantec Markets Limited’s new CEO?
Which brokers reported record results? And which saw a drop in activity?
Answers to these questions, and a whole lot more, appeared first or exclusively this past 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: JFD acquires offshore broker ZumaMarkets, rebrands website. FNG has learned that CySEC licensed Retail FX and CFDs broker JFD has made some changes following the departure last year of its co-founder and longtime CEO Lars Gottwik. First, the company has acquired offshore CFDs broker ZumaMarkets. ZumaMarkets offers trading on MT5, and is formally domiciled in Seychelles, a popular incorporation jurisdiction for offshore brokers, but is run mainly from Panama and Venezuela, focusing on the LATAM markets.
Exclusive: ex FXCM/Jefferies prime broker heads launch crypto exchange Crossover. Following our earlier exclusive report that the two leading executives running the FX Prime Brokerage operations of Jefferies Financial Group Inc (NYSE:JEF) were leaving the firm to embark on a new venture in the crypto space, FNG has learned that the “new venture” is actually an institutional-focused cryptocurrency exchange, called Crossover Markets. The two executives in question, Brandon Mulvihill and Anthony Mazzarese, were long-term senior employees at FXCM, who formed the FX prime brokerage desk at Jefferies, after Jefferies bought FXCM in 2015.
Exclusive: Former AvaTrade France head David Bottin launches offshore FX broker RaiseFX. FNG has learned that David Bottin, former Managing Director at AvaTrade and head of AvaTrade France, has launched a new offshore Retail FX and CFD broker brand called RaiseFX, at website raisefx.com. The raisefx.com website is technically being operated by a company called RaiseGroup LLP, which is registered in Kazakhstan. However we understand that the operation is being physically run from Paris, where Mr. Bottin resides.
Retail FX/CFD brokers reporting results this past week include:
❑ XTB posts record Revenues above $100M in Q1-2022, Net Profit $57M.
❑ NAGA Group sees record revenue of €18M in Q1-2022.
❑ Exclusive: Dukascopy sees Revenue drop 7% in 2H-2021, Profits fall 40%.
❑ Exclusive: GCEX posts £1.3M profit on £1.9M revenue in first full year of operation.
Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:
❑ Tony Sharpe replaces Hayel Abu-Hamdan as Chief Exec of Hantec Markets London.
❑ INFINOX hires ADSS exec Aaron Brown to head Institutional Sales MENA.
❑ Exclusive: Valutrades’ ex COO Harry Campbell-Lamerton rejoins as Director.
❑ Amana Capital adds Amazon exec Joy Dabeet as CMO.
❑ INFINOX adds Tradeview MD Adam Saward to Executive Management team.
❑ Exclusive: Valutrades exec Waleed Salah joins Australia’s Ox Securities to head MENA sales.