Valutrades, an FCA-regulated forex and CFDs broker, announced on Monday that it has appointed John Thwaytes as a director. According to a regulatory filing, Thwaytes' new position was effective from July 18, 2018.
Thwaytes joins the London-based broker during an interesting year full of development. In July, the broker recently upgraded its permissions to an “IFPRU €730k” license.
This status is given to firms based in the UK, with own base funds of €730,000 ($850,00). Firms with this status must adhere to both the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulations.
To upgrade its license, the broker raised £1.4 million ($1.82 million) from existing shareholders. This money will be put towards increasing the firm’s balance sheet and supporting its continual growth.
Thwaytes is the latest addition to the Valutrade team which, in the lead up to its upgraded license, has been strengthening its senior management team. This saw the likes of Harry Campbell-Lamerton, formerly of ADS Securities, appointed to Chief Operating Officer. Earlier this month, Finance Magnates reported that the broker promoted Gavin Foster to a Non-Executive Director.
Foster’s new position follows two years of working with the group, as he joined the company as a strategic consultant to Valutrades in 2016. Prior to working with the broker, Forster was the Head of Forex and Director of London Capital Group.
Valutrades' Expanding Offering
Earlier this year in January, Valutrades took a leap and began offering traders the ability to trade cryptocurrency CFDs. In the initial launch, three Cryptocurrencies were added: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin and a total of five tradeable symbols BTCUSD, ETHBTC, ETHUSD, LTCBTC, and LTCUSD.
However, this was just the first release for the London-based broker’s planned crypto solutions. According to its statement at the time, the firm plans to add more digital currencies, provide more advanced order executions and improve trading terms.
