Forex Weekly Look Back: eToro confirms $10.4 billion SPAC merger, SIX reports 22% rise in operating income

Steffy Bogdanova
March 19, 2021 10:36 am

Looking back at the most intriguing and popular industry news from the past week between 15th and 19th March on LeapRate.

London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG) has announced Lea Carty’s appointment as Group Head of Investment Solutions. Working to drive sustainable growth for investment management customers, Carty is set to report to Chief Product Officer, Data & Analytics, Andrea Remyn Stone, and will be based in the US.

Switzerland-based online trading platform, Swissquote, revealed that a significant rise in net revenues and net profit along with a substantial increase in the number of active clients. The broker reported net revenues of CHF 317.3 million in 2020, which is 37.6% higher than the net revenues registered in 2019. Swissquote also noted a rise in the number of accounts. The company reported adding 50,636 accounts, reaching the highest number on record with a total of over 410,000 accounts.

Credit Suisse Group AG’s Board of Directors has announced the appointment of Ulrich Körner as CEO Asset Management. Körner’s new role will begin 1st April  2021, when he will also begin duties as a member of the Group’s Executive Board, reporting directly to Group CEO Thomas Gottstein. Körner has extensive Executive Board level experience in the financial services industry, spanning asset management, operations, and finance.

Robinhood has appointed former Google executive Aparna Chennapragada as Chief Product Officer. Chennapragada will lead all product, design and research for Robinhood in the development of new products. She has experience in the financial world from her seat on Capital One’s board. A veteran in the tech industry with 20 years of experience, Chennapragada spent 12 years at the tech giant Google. Most recently, she was vice president and general manager for Google’s consumer shopping products.

SIX Group, the financial services company that operates the infrastructure for the Swiss financial centre, published its financial results last year. The Group registered a significant leap in operating income which reached CHF 1,375.9 million, marking a 21.8% rise compared to 2019. The Group reported that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to CHF 368.9 million, up 72.8% compared to 2019. The total net profit of the Group was CHF 439.6 million.

eToro Group Ltd confirmed its plans to merge with blank check company FinTech Acquisition Corp. V and become listed on NASDAQ. eToro’s announcement confirmed that the estimated implied equity value of the merger is $10.4 billion at closing, putting the implied enterprise value for eToro at $9.6 billion. The announcement further revealed that $250 million will be raised from FinTech V’s cash in trust and $650 million from private placement in the public equity. The company reported that institutional investors including ION Investment Group, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Third Point LLC, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC and Wellington Management will receive the equity at $10 per share.

Qontigo has revealed the appointment of Neal Pawar as Chief Operating Officer. Most recently, Pawar served as Group Chief Information Officer at Deutsche Bank and, prior to that, as a Partner and Chief Technology Officer at AQR Capital. Pawar has diverse experience working for a various leading firms in multiple segments of the finance industry. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in September 2019, Pawar spent five years at AQR, where he led the modernization of infrastructures that helped to propel the transformation and scaling of the company.

Forex Weekly Look Back

White label technology provider and consulting firm, Qinox Tech, has just announced that the company upgraded its global currency rates data service through a service agreement with OANDA, an FCA-regulated international broker and data provider. According to the partnership agreement, Qinox Tech will provide currency solutions from OANDA. White-label brokers and other service buyers using Qinox Tech’s services will benefit from this new data service directly from the company’s platforms.

Global fintech brokerage, CAPEX.com, has revealed it has added a new offer to its cryptocurrency product line. The multi-licenced brokerage house has decided to expand its crypto offering to respond to growing customer interest in the cryptocurrency world. CAPEX.com also conducted an internal survey corroborating this conclusion. As a result, the brokerage decided to supplement its product offer to include EUR denominated crypto, as well as Bitcoin Spot.

From 22nd March 2021, Eurex is set to list futures on the Korean benchmark index KOSPI 200, as Eurex and Korea Exchange announce that they are to expand the breadth of products available on their joint link. This expansion of accessible products reiterates the joint venture’s dedication to connecting markets on a worldwide scale. Eurex works with customers, regulators and other key stakeholders to facilitate an effective and varied market, aiming to provide maximum benefits to its clients by delivering integrity and safety. A key selling point for Eurex is that it offers international investors access to the Korean market outside of standard Korean trading hours.

Online payment processing company Stripe has raised $600 million in the latest funding round at a valuation of $95 billion. Investors in its latest funding round include Allianz X, Axa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sequoia Capital and Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). Stripe shared that the gathered funding aims to support its European operations, and its Dublin headquarters in particular and answer to the growing demand from enterprise heavyweights across Europe, and expand its Global Payments and Treasury Network.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) will carry out developments to its VCM and POS in the derivatives market from 12th April 2021. As of the previous date, the Volatility Control Mechanism will have the ability to allow numerous triggers per session, while the pre-open allocation pre-opening sessions will feature a random cut-off mechanism. Launched into the derivatives market in 2017, the current VCM is designed to facilitate the next calendar month and spot month contracts in the Hang Seng Index (HSI) Futures, Mini-Hang Seng Index (MHI) Futures, Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HHI) Futures and Mini-Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (Mini-HSCEI) Futures.

Macrobond Financial leading provider of economic and financial data and analytics has just announced the appointment of John Leffler as Vice President for the Americas and Chris Seaman as Regional Managing Director in the UK. At his new position, Leffler will work on Macrobond’s business in Canada, the US and South America, while Seaman will oversee all existing and new business in the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and MENA.

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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