Looking back at the most intriguing and popular industry news from the past week between 8th and 12th March on LeapRate.
London-based information provider IHS Markit announced its shareholders’ approval for merger with financial information firm S&P Global. HIS Markit’s shareholders voted yesterday at a special general meeting with an overwhelming 98.95% approving the proposed merger agreement. S&P Global also held a general meeting where 99% of the shareholders voted to approve the merger.
Saxo Bank revealed that at its annual general meeting, the shareholders elected former Group CEO and President of Sampo plc., Kari Stadigh, as new Chairman of the Board. Stadigh replaces Daniel Donghui Li, CEO of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, who will step down as Chair and continue as a regular member of the Board.
London-listed financial broker IG Group released an update on the revenue the company registered in the third quarter of the financial year 2021. The quarter will end on 31 May 2021 but the overall trading activity has already jumped significantly with reported revenue of £230.3 million, up 65% compared to £139.8 million in Q3 of FY20. The broker attributed the strong performance to a combination of strong trading activities by the company’s existing clients and a surge in client acquisition. IG Group registered 230,100 active clients in Q3 of FY21 with a 60% rise compared to 143,800 in Q3 of FY20.
Australian-based Forex and CFD broker FP Markets has recently launched its new Social Trading platform to enable users to find, follow and copy popular traders instantly. The platform has been set up to accommodate those trading as Copiers and Providers who are looking to offer strategies. Copy-trading works to eliminate some of the difficulties experienced while trading forex and CFDs. By making it possible to follow successful and prominent traders or Providers, copy trading also provides customers with a far more accessible entry point to trading worldwide financial markets.
HSBC Holdings plc revealed that Rachel Duan was appointed as Independent non-executive Director of the Company, effective 1 September 2021. She will also be a member of the Group Remuneration Committee and the Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee. As a seasoned business leader, Duan brings to the Board Asia and international leadership experience and business acumen.
German fintech company NAGA Group AG has recently revealed that it has secured capital financing for up to $30 million throughout the following 3 years, after signing a deal with US fund Yorkville Advisors. This agreement comes as NAGA Group’s share price increased by over 6% in a recent trading session. To receive the funds, NAGA will initially and immediately withdraw $8 million, issuing convertible notes to access the proceeds. NAGA also confirmed that the funding will be carried out in tranches.
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today released its market statistic for February 2021. The exchange reported a rise in FX futures trading volume during last month with 2.3 million contracts and 7% increase compared to January 2021. The official announcement stated that INR/USD Futures led the rise in volumes with a 22% jump as market volatility increased. The trading volume of USD/CNH futures fell 15% last month during the New Year holidays in China.
Pelican Trading has continued its expansion and announced two new white label partners, including Eurotrader and XpertAlgo. The FCA-regulated social copy-trading solution provider for brokers, connects users directly with brokers, integrating trade execution and communication into a central network for traders. Clients can access Pelican’s technology via both iOS and Android mobile applications which enables a broker’s clients to auto-copy signals, execute trades, chat and analyse performance.
BidFX, cloud-based provider of electronic FX trading solutions for institutions, today announced the launch of BidFX Data and Analytics.
The wholly-owned subsidiary of SGX Group, BidFX, released the latest addition to its suite of offerings for financial institutions, which includes an EMS platform, risk and compliance modules and transaction cost analysis (TCA). The launch provides banks, hedge funds and asset managers with access to tools to manage the collection and cloud storage of client-specific liquidity streams, as well as monitor composite rates across multiple FX products. The new offering gives institutional players a comprehensive view of the pricing, market impact and liquidity for every transaction.
Australian-based CFD trading provider TMGM announced its partnership with algorithmic trading firm Trade View Investments. The collaboration between the two companies will offer TMGM clients access to content and optimal trading tools from Trade View (Terms & Conditions apply). TMGM clients will benefit from access to Trade View’s trading platform focused on algorithmic trading, Trade View X. The platform allows traders to build and “test” trading strategies (no coding skills necessary) to ensure their success before investing real money.
UK-based global multi-regulated financial service provider, ICM.com, today announced the appointment of Joanne Tayara as Director of the Dubai representative office. Tayara has been promoted after seven years at the company and proven leadership. Tayara has over 14 years of experience in the financial sector, having held positions in operations management, marketing, sales, and dealing.
Deutsche Börse announced the trading volumes for Eurex and EEX for February 2021. The company saw some increases and drops in different sections of the market compared to January. European equity index derivatives contracts turnover fell almost 0.2% MoM with 61.7million, compared to 61.8 million for January 2021. The volumes of European equity index derivatives were 24.5 million. Overall, February volumes at Eurex stood at 142 million, up by 9.7% MoM compared to 129 million for the previous month.
Despite an uncertain economic environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the London Stock Exchange Group has revealed a growth in profits and 3% growth in overall revenue in its full-year financial report for 2020. LSEG’S total income for 2020 was £2.4 billion, while its revenue reached £2.1 billion.
To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, LeapRate talked to a selection of female representatives from the technology sector, discussing the challenges they have faced as females in the industry and the importance of encouraging more women into senior roles to help shape the industry moving forward. We spoke to Katie Christensen, Chief Compliance Officer of ISAM / IS Prime, Remonda Z. Kirketerp-Møller, Founder and CEO of RegTech company Muinmos and Anushka Prakash, Software Developer at Gold-i.
