Forex Weekly Look Back: JPMorgan Chase to buy UK robo-adivser Nutmeg, Fineco’s Marco Mottadelli talks with LeapRate

Steffy Bogdanova
June 18, 2021 11:43 am

Looking back at the most intriguing and popular industry news from the past week between 14th and 18th June on LeapRate.

Refinitiv FXall announced its plans to expand FX traders’ access to FX OTC cleared workflows when it comes to trading by bridging its connectivity to LCH. The new solution will provide FXall users with a far more streamlined and swifter method of clearing NDF trades via LCH’s already established ForexClear service. Dependent on approval from regulators, the new solution is due to go live during Q4 of 2021.

JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy UK online investment management platform Nutmeg as it enters the Britain’s retail banking market. The US banking giant announced its plans on Thursday to buy the robo-adviser for an undisclosed sum. Nutmeg has grown quickly since its launch in 2012 and now manages £3.5 billion in assets for about 140,000 customers. It offers a range of investment accounts, such as ISAs, pensions and general investment accounts.

Fintech firm Acuity Trading launched a brand new R&D centre based in Barcelona, Spain. The recent press release revealed that CEO Andrew Lane completed the constitution for what will be known as Acuity Analytics, earlier this month. This new Barcelona-based research and development hub is said to be part of Acuity’s strategic expansion plans into Europe.

FXSpotStream, the provider of a multibank FX aggregation service for spot FX trading, revealed that Ross Smith has joined the company as a Legal Consultant. The official announcement noted that the new hire comes as the company prepares for the launch to support Algo and Allocation functionality over their API. Ross Smith has more than two decades of experience as a legal expert, handling legal matters for a number of firms.

Fintech firm Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.  strengthened its leadership team with the addition of Fintech and financial services veteran Ray Tierney as President of Itiviti. Tierney brings extensive experience on both the sell-side and buy-side. In his new role, he will be responsible for the management and growth of Broadridge’s front-office OEMS and Connectivity solutions with its recently finalised acquisition of Itiviti.

Financial services group Global Kapital Group (GKG) revealed that it has obtained a broker-dealer from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), granting the Group the rights to serve clients in the United States. The official announcement reported that the company’s SEC-registered entity GK TRADE New York LLC is authorized to onboard clients and in the US and is allowed to offer trading services with securities and mutual funds.

Switzerland-based online trading platform, Swissquote, reported that, due to a surge in trading activities, the company is expecting a record performance for the first half of 2021. The official announcement reported that the company estimates that their net revenues for H1 2021 will reach CHF 260 million. The company registered CHF 160.7 million in net revenues of during the first half of 2020.

OTC market for the buy-side TrueFX announced that Straits Financial Services Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based Capital Markets Services License company, has joined TrueFX as a clearing member to enhance their clients’ access to forex liquidity. Straits Financial will provide FX brokers and buy-side firms with direct access to liquidity on TrueFX. Users will benefit from access to all market makers on the venue, who in turn can provide them with customized pricing.

Forex and CFD broker ATFX launched 54 Hong Kong shares CFDs which cover the large and popular companies listed in the region. Traders will have access to shares of the largest companies in the stock market, based on the market capitalisation in Asia. The announcement revealed that ATFX clients located in the regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America will immediately be able to use the share CFDs.

Finvasia Group announced its acquisition of Fxview, a Cyprus-based CFD broker and financial services provider with clients in more than 25 countries around the globe. Finvasia, which oversees a number of different brands within the FinTech industry, stated in its announcement that it has acquired a full 100% stake in the firm, but is yet to reveal how much it bought the company for.

Global multi-asset execution, clearing and liquidity provider Sucden Financial revealed a new mobile trading app for its futures and options trading system, STAR. STAR Mobile provides users with real-time trading, position monitoring, order management and execution. It allows for quick reactions to market movements while on the move with its complementary range of alerts and notifications. The mobile app works with the desktop platform and can be used with Android and iOS mobile devices.

Edgewater Markets has revealed the appointment of Michael Cleary as their new Director of Sales out of their New York City headquarters. In the newly created position, Cleary will lead the New York business of the company, focusing on LatAm sales, working closely with Robert Sanchez and Jose-Antonio Buenaño. Edgewater Markets provides forex services to 350 global institutional clients and complete software solutions for banks, asset managers, brokers and other financial institutions.

Broadridge Financial Solutions revealed the successful launch of its distributed ledger repo (DLR) platform. According to the announcement, the blockchain-enabled platform has provided early participants with reduced risk, operational costs and enhanced liquidity, while also accelerating their digitization journey.

Marco Mottadelli, Head of Global Brokerage at the Fineco sat down with LeapRate to talk about the history behind the Italian bank’s business model, its innovative approach and its significance for the European scene. He explained that  Fineco has a fintech business model with almost 20 years of history which creates a combination of innovation and solidity of the balance sheet.

Forex Weekly Look Back

Research published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reveals that 2.3 million adults now have cryptoassets. The number is 1.9 million higher than last year. The research estimates that 78% of people have heard of cryptocurrencies while last year it was 73%. The UK regulator’s analysis shows that as holding crypto has become commonplace, the attitudes toward these assets have changed.

The multi-licensed global broker CAPEX.com announced closing its new funding round, having raised a total of $21 million. Growth Box Ventures and a syndicate investment led by Moore & Moore assisted with the raising of the funds. CAPEX.com’s funding round comes when online trading interest is at an all-time high and the company has registered fast growth during last year. The new investment will support the addition of the new products, fund the broker’s expansion by selected M&A deals in key markets and growing the teams and offices worldwide.

Globally regulated trading provider CFI Financial Group has revealed a new set of basketball sponsorship deals in Jordan. As CFI is looking to strengthen its presence, the company has decided to sponsor Jordan’s National Basketball Team following. The deal reflects CFI’s support for the sports community which goes hand in hand with the company’s customer-centric approach. The new deal also aims to strengthen CFI’s bond with the Jordan by sponsoring its national team thus, supporting the sport in the country and helping it grow further.

Fintech firm Gold-i has revealed the promotion of Mark Alvarez-Buylla as Director of Operations. His new role brings Alvarez-Buylla to the Gold-i Management Board where he joins Tom Higgins (Founder & CEO), Julian Elliott (Chief Commercial Officer) and Chris James (Chief Technology Officer). Alvarez-Buylla will continue to oversee operations and client deployment at Gold-i. As part of his new role, he will also have responsibility for Gold-i’s Accounts team.

NAGA Group AG announced a new payments arm, as it launches NAGA Pay. The new platform will be run alongside VISA and in collaboration with Contis – NAGA’s new program that offers its users the means to link up and gain access to any funds held first-hand in their brokerage and payment wallets. When licensing is assessed in Q4 of this year, users will also be able to manage their physical crypto-wallets.

International derivatives exchange and a member of the Deutsche Börse Group, Eurex, has just announced that Utrecht-based financial services provider, De Volksbank is the first Dutch bank to join its ISA Direct model. The announcement noted that ABN AMRO Clearing Bank is acting as Clearing Agent. ISA Direct allows a vast number of institutions to benefit from large liquidity pools and greater capital efficiencies by providing a direct clearing connection.

French bank and global provider of financial services Societe Generale and Kyriba, a cloud-based finance and IT solutions provider, have entered a strategic partnership to launch a new treasury management solution. This new solution will introduce payment automation and fraud management functionalities and will be dedicated to the Bank’s corporate clients and their subsidiaries.

LeapRate Analyst

Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
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