Penny Judd Becomes Chairman of Plus500 Board, Steve Baldwin Joins as Director

Following the major announcement about Plus500’s buyback program earlier today, the company also gave notice about changes to its board of directors. As previously announced in April, Alastair Gordon stepped down from his position as chairman.

He was succeeded by Penny Judd, with the board also adding a new non-executive director, Steve Baldwin.

Ms. Judd has been worked in finance for over 30 years. Her expertise is in compliance, governance, Regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term, corporate finance and audit. Her chairmanship comes at the right time, as in the coming months the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is preparing new rules for retail foreign exchange and CFDs trading providers.

The new chairman has already made a positive impact on the company’s governance since joining the body in 2016. Ms. Judd has previously held senior compliance positions at Nomura and UBS. She was also Head of Equity Markets at the London Stock Exchange until 2000 and served as a consultant to TP ICAP during the transition period for the company as it was merging the voice broking units of Tullett Prebon and ICAP.

Mr. Baldwin joins the brokerage with experience as a non-executive director of Panmure Gordon & Co. plc and Elegant Hotels Group plc. His background is in corporate finance. Most recently he served as Head of European Equity Capital Markets and Corporate Broking at Macquarie Capital until February 2015.

The new addition to the company’s board has an extensive background in the financial markets industry, serving in senior roles at JPMorgan Cazenove and UBS.

Plus500 Shares Rally 7% after Buyback Announcement

Shares of Plus500 rallied sharply after the market open on the London Stock Exchange, currently trading over 7 percent higher around 554 pence per share. The company committed to a $10 million buyback program lasting until the end of August.

The news surprised the market as the firm highlighted that it is still facing risks in the second half of the year, primarily related to the FCA's review of its regulatory policy towards retail foreign exchange and CFDs trading providers. The UK regulator has outlined in December that it is looking into decreasing the maximum amount of Leverage Leverage In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders Read this Term that retail traders can use.