LeapRate Exclusive… If anyone had any doubt as to who was in charge and calling the shots at Retail FX broker FXCM Group, after FXCM had distanced itself from one-time controlling shareholder Global Brokerage Inc (OTCMKTS:GLBR), well those questions should be clearly answered now.
Jimmy Hallac, FXCM Chairman
As we have written and explained several times ever since Leucadia National Corp (NYSE:LUK) came to FXCM’s rescue with a $300 million emergency loan following the Swiss Franc spike of January 15, 2015 (more what caused the Swiss Franc crisis here), Leucadia holds the major economic interest in FXCM and has been making and/or approving all major decisions at FXCM ever since. Even more so, after Leucadia executive Jimmy Hallac became Chairman of FXCM Group last year.
Well now FXCM has taken things a step further, incorporating the Leucadia name into its own logo. Where the logo used to read FXCM: Listed NYSE, now the company has added in: A Leucadia Company.
Leucadia is of course a well respected, diversified company with a market cap approaching $9 billion. Leucadia’s main asset is mid-market investment bank Jefferies LLC (Jefferies provides FXCM with prime brokerage services and liquidity in FX trading), but it has holdings and investments in a wide variety of areas including real estate, food and mining.
With the rebranding, FXCM is clearly looking to further distance itself from Global Brokerage Inc, which successfully reorganized and exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month after getting its Convertible Noteholders (owed $172 million) on board and agreeing to a 5-year extension of the debt. Global Brokerage still technically holds a 50% interest in FXCM, but given the future mandated payouts to Leucadia from FXCM’s cash flows, its economic interest in FXCM is a lot less. And so its influence on the company.
An FXCM spokesperson made the following statement to LeapRate on the matter:
Beginning in January 2015, through a series of transactions, Leucadia has become the majority economic owner of FXCM. FXCM has benefited from the scale and breadth of the Leucadia family of companies since then and now Leucadia is present in the company’s brand identity. Firmly committed to FXCM’s success, our customers, employees and stakeholders benefit greatly from the Leucadia affiliation.
FXCM is committed to building a better and better brokerage for our traders, our goal is to provide them with the ultimate trading experience. We are constantly looking to deliver innovative technology solutions and enhanced execution that will help our traders navigate and trade the financial markets.
FXCM’s new brand identity will be rolled out globally in the coming weeks and can be seen on websites, social media accounts and other marketing material.