FX week in review: Sponsorship, Bankruptcy, new White Label
What a week it was in the Retail Forex space!
We got some fairly good June trading volume results from the likes of Exness, Saxo Bank and Forex.com as well as most of the leading institutional FX venues. And, some really interesting Q2 revenue figures from Plus500. But that was just the beginning.
Which Retail FX broker filed for bankruptcy, putting into question its front-of-shirt sponsorship of a UK Premier League team?
Which FX broker is becoming the new sponsor of Inter Milan?
Which broker signed a Ukrainian bank to a White Label agreement?
Which Australian Retail FX broker got a UAE broker license?
Answers to these questions and a whole lot more were seen first or exclusively this week on FNG. Some of the top forex industry news items to appear on the pages of FNG this week included:
Sheffield United shirt sponsor USGFX enters administration. We don’t know just how much longer the logo of Retail FX broker USGFX will adorn the jersey front of Premier League team Sheffield United FC. But, it probably won’t be that much longer. This morning the Australia based parent of USGFX, Union Standard International Group Pty Ltd, has announced that it has entered “voluntary administration” as of yesterday, July 8, 2020. At this stage, no new account, new deposit, withdrawals or new positions will be taken. Existing client open positions will be set as “close only”.
Exclusive: IC Markets to pay €10 Mln per year to become Inter Milan sleeve sponsor. FNG Exclusive… Rumors are circulating that IC Markets is set to plunk down a big chunk of change to become a major sponsor of another major European football team, Italy’s Inter Milan. Italian sports site Tuttosport has reported that IC Markets – one of Australia’s leading Retail FX and CFD brokers by volume – and Inter are set to announce a deal whereby IC Markets will become a sleeve sponsor of Inter, with the IC Markets logo present of the team’s home and away jerseys, but on the sleeve. IC Markets would become Inter’s first sleeve sponsor.
Exclusive: Ukraine’s Bank SICH launches Retail FX broker with Dukascopy white label. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that Ukrainian banking outfit Bank SICH has launched a separate Retail FX and CFDs broker brand, called PowerBank Trade. PowerBank Trade will be aimed at Ukrainian retail clients, and is licensed by the National Bank of Ukraine. PowerBank Trade, operated at url powerbank.trade, is the first regulated banking forex platform in Ukraine. The firm’s trading platform is based off of Dukascopy’s JTrade proprietary platform, and will offer clients trading in a wide variety of leveraged Forex and CFD products.
Exclusive: GO Markets gets UAE broker license. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that Australia based Retail FX and CFDs broker GO Markets has expanded in the MENA region, and obtained a Broker License from the UAE Securities & Commodities Authority (SCA). The license was awarded to the company’s UAE subsidiary, GO Markets MENA DMCC. GO Markets MENA DMCC was established last year in the economic ‘free zone’ of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC). At the time GO Markets MENA DMCC also obtained membership with the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX).
In FX industry executive moves this week:
- Exclusive: Gold-i bizdev exec Arun Lakhani leaves to Retail FX broker
- Nidal Abdel Hadi promoted to CEO of CFI Dubai
- IG eyes Asia expansion adding former Colt CEO Rakesh Bhasin to its board, ESG effort
- First Derivatives adds former GFT and SuperDerivatives exec David Collins
- First Derivatives’ CEO and CFO granted 300,000 options