Looking back at the most intriguing and popular industry news from the past week between 10th and 14th May on LeapRate.
It was revealed today that UK-based fintech firm Oval Money Ltd. will be acquired by Swiss private equity firm, Guru Capital. Oval Money will be integrated with CFD broker ETX Capital, which Guru bought last year from UK private equity firm, JRJ Group. Guru is said to be negotiating the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Oval Money Ltd’s Spanish regulated subsidiary, Oval Marketplace AV. by an associated fund.
Financial information firm S&P Global and London-based information provider, IHS Markit reported on feedback they received from regulators. As a result, the leadership of the two companies are exploring divestment options for IHS Markit’s Oil Price Information Services (OPIS) business and IHS Markit’s Coal, Metals and Mining business. The decision to sell the business units from both companies is to ensure the pending merger of both companies closes as planned.
In a regulatory updated today, online CFD broker Plus500 has announced the appointment of Professor Jacob Frenkel. the Israel-based broker revealed that following a shareholder vote at the Company’s Annual General Meeting, Jacob Frenkel was approved as a Non-Executive director and Chair of the Board. Plus500 proposed Professor Jacob A. Frenkel to be appointed as Chairman of its Board of Directors back in March to succeed Chariman since 2017 Penny Judd.
Global fintech firm, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., has announced that it has completed its acquisition of trading and connectivity provider, Itiviti Holding AB. They first announced plans for the acquisition towards the end of March this year, where it paid $2.5 billion to secure the deal with the former owner of Itiviti, Nordic Capital. The acquisition has gone through in the hope that it will enhance Broadridge’s standing as a Fintech leader globally, as it continues to work towards significantly strengthening its Capital Markets franchise.
The StoneX Group has revealed that its subsidiaries StoneX Financial Europe S.A. and StoneX Financial Inc. – FCM Division, will be co-hosting the StoneX School of Futures. StoneX School of Futures is a virtual program aiming to educate retail traders, speculators, investors, proprietary traders and university students about Futures. The course is 40 hours long and spans 10 half-day sessions on every Tuesday and Thursday starting 1 June through 1 July. Each session will be conducted in an interactive including a hands-on, practical Futures Trading Simulation.
Aussie CFD broker ACY Securities has entered a multi-year partnership extension with footballer Tim Cahill. Under the new partnership agreement, Cahill, who is Australia’s highest goal-scorer and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia this year, will be ACY’s Global Brand Ambassador until 2024. The collaboration between ACY Securities and Tim Cahill started in October 2019 when they first worked together on campaigns to bring ACY’s technology to a wider audience, as well as highlighting the educational journey of a trader.
Forex broker Exness has posted a year over year jump of 75% in its April trading volumes. While most of the trading industry is beginning to report a significant slump in April, Exness has revealed that its trading volume for this month came in at around $841 billion. Despite the reported figure is a slight fall from its record-breaking volume in March. The noticeably significant figure recorded for April takes the second-best figure reported on the platform so far.
Capital.com revealed that its trading volumes for the first quarter of 2021 which ended on 31 March. During the first quarter, the European investment trading platform increased the number of clients to over 2 million. The company reported that the number of new clients onboarded during the first quarter rose 233% compared to the previous quarter. Capital.com saw 78% increase in trading volume reaching $82 billion. The high numbers the platform registered are partly attributed to the global market rally and rising retail participation in financial markets resulting from the lockdown measures.
Global brokerage StoneX, has published its financial results for the second quarter of the financial year 2021. The quarter ended on 31 March 2020 and saw a 29% rise in operating revenues as the total reached $471.4 million. StoneX reported net income of $55.3 million, marking a 41% increase compared to the same period the previous year. The company also registered diluted EPS of $2.73 per share and ROE of 26.7%.
The company’s London-based subsidiary, StoneX Financial Ltd, announced becoming a member of the London Stock Exchange and Turquoise, the pan-European MTF. The membership expands StoneX’s border equities trading and cross-asset capabilities. In its new membership, StoneX will provide an onboarding process and a more comprehensive offering to banks, institutions, family offices and retail traders.
Global provider of online trading CMC Markets has expanded its range of products with the launch of signature share baskets. The baskets are designed to highlight company shares which exhibiting similar price behaviour, with good performance and momentum. CMC markets announced that the first set of launched baskets are based on Relative Rotation Graphs (RRG).
Equiti Capital, subsidiary of Equiti Group, has revealed that its FX Desk has appointed NatWest Markets as another Prime Broker. Equiti Capital’s FX Desk provides liquidity to the buyside through an agency model. Following the recent growth of its FX Desk and the need of multiple Prime Brokers to diversify risk, Equiti Capital went to market in 2020 to appoint a second prime broker. NatWest Markets emerged as a natural choice with their flexible approach, expansive credit access and dedicated and professional support team.
BlackBull Markets has just announced its partnership with motorsport champion Tom Alexander. The New Zealand-based fintech firm will sponsor Alexander in the 2021 GT3 Endurance series. He will compete in the challenging motorsport series as a brand ambassador of BlackBull Markets. In the official announcement the company said it was hopeful he will show his talent on the track and bring home another championship in 2021.
