Special administrator RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP (formerly known as Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery LLP) has filed an update on its work on the bankruptcy of retail forex broker LQD Markets. LQD Markets went belly-up in the wake of the January 2015 Swiss Franc spike – meaning that some former clients are still waiting for their money back, more than two and a half years on.
According to RSM in its progress report issued on August 25, the FSCS has paid out to date more than $2.74 million to former LQD Markets clients covering 320 client claims.
RSM has to date agreed a total of 555 client claims for $4.38 million. When all is said and done, RSM expects the client deficit (i.e. missing client money) to total about $2.9 million. When RSM originally came in as administrator, all that was left of the $4.38 million of supposed client funds was £1.42 million, in a variety of bank accounts.
For its work, RSM has charged fees of more than £245,000 million to the LQD file – meaning that Special Administrator fees will amount to nearly 10% of the entire claim amount, a percentage fairly similar to administrator KPMG’s fees in the larger Alpari UK bankruptcy case. Like LQD Markets, Alpari UK also went under following losses incurred on January 15, 2017, when the Swiss Franc spiked suddenly by more than 20% after a surprise announcement by the Swiss National Bank that it would no longer attempt to hold down the value of the CHF versus the Euro.