Offshore (Mauritius) domiciled Retail FX and CFDs broker Ultima Markets has announced that the company has secured a regulatory license to operate under the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with plans to establish a regulated presence in the UK. Ultima Markets, until now focused mainly on clients in China and the Far East, plans to onboard UK clients from 2026, and is slated to launch a localized UK offering.

FCA licensed business acquisition

We understand that the license was obtained via the company’s acquisition of Tiger Brokers (UK) Ltd, the (formerly) FCA licensed arm of UP Fintech Holding Limited (NASDAQ:TIGR), which operates the online brokerage brand Tiger Brokers.

We understand that the deal was struck between Tiger Brokers and Ultima Markets back in November 2024, after Tiger Brokers decided to exit the UK market. The parties took the following months to receive FCA regulatory approval for the deal (and for the new owners), which was granted in July 2025. Ultima Markets injected £658K of capital into the business before the deal closed, towards its continued operating expenses during the transition period.

Acquired business

The acquired business – now renamed Ultima Markets UK Limited – had not been transacting much business in recent years, posting basically zero in Revenue for each of 2024 and 2023 (as well as 2022 and 2021), while accumulating losses totaling £4.6 million as at the end of 2024, eating into most of the company’s capital base. The business did not report having any deposited client funds.

UK online trading market

The past few months have been somewhat interesting in the UK online trading market, with a number of longtime participants (such as Tiger Brokers, Aetos, and Trive) deciding to depart, given the high client acquisition costs, and ultra-high competition with both deep pocketed incumbents (such as IG Group, CMC Markets, and Plus500), as well as a number of crypto exchanges and neobrokers who are increasingly targeting UK retail traders.

However other brokers such as Ultima Markets, GTN, and Moneta Markets, are moving in the opposite direction and trying to establish a presence in the UK.