This week stories of brokers' brushes with regulators, an acquisition, as well as new offering from FXDD made the most impact on our readers. Additionally drawing the attention of the Online Trading industry were an interview with the founder of the first CTFC and NFA approved binary options brand and our summaries on the costs of branding using google and football sponsorships.
How the First U.S Regulated Binary Brand Emerged
Two weeks ago we revealed that Forest Park BX, a new offering from the same-named American FX broker, will be the first introducing broker referring traders to the Cantor Exchange via a custom SpotOption white label.
On Monday, Justin Hertzberg, Esq., the president and CEO of Ambassador Capital Management, LLC (doing business as Forest Park FX, Forest Park BX and Forest Park Binary Exchange) met up with Finance Magnates for an exclusive first interview on the launch of the new binary options offering.
Whose Fault is it Anyway?
This week, leading American brokerage, Interactive Brokers LLC, was ordered by arbitrators to pay $1.2 million to two trust fund beneficiaries who claim the firm facilitated “reckless trading” by their trust fund overseer.
This decision seems to put the blame for a fund manager’s losses on Interactive Brokers as they failed to stop him from taking risky choices. If such a ruling will be allowed to stand, it can endanger the entire business model by which all online brokers operate
FinFX Acquisition
Information from FinFX revealed that the retail clients and the brand of the brokerage have been acquired in a strategic move. The firm has published a statement publicizing that as part of a restructuring plan, with the brand and the client base acquired by “Best Choice FBC limited”. The official announcement made by the company states that the CySEC regulated broker will operate under the “FinFX” brand.
Speaking to Finance Magnates reporters, the Chief Business Development Officer of the company Stan Klebaner said that current management will remain actively involved in running the firm and emphasized that the move is strategic.
Sensus Capital Aftermath
Maltese and German regulators inspected the offices of forex broker Sensus Capital Markets in Malta and Hamburg, following the dismissal of the firm’s shareholder and Head of Trading, Martin Huff. The Brokerage’s CEO, Ben-Florian Henke, told Finance Magnates that the company parted ways with Mr. Huff’s after finding out about his involvement in a failing venture in Switzerland in 2000 and some other issues.
According to Mr Henke, the regulators sought to determine if there has been any misconduct in the company’s business. Mr. Henke added that the firm’s operation continued as usual during the visit, and after two days of reviewing business conduct in Malta and one in Germany, both regulators have left the premises without disrupting the company’s business.
FXDD Launches Unregulated Entity
FXDD Global announced during the week its launch of FXDD Trading, a new entity held by Currency Mountain Holdings, the holding company of FXDD Global and other brands within the FX industry. FXDD Trading is designed to offer value-added features not currently available in other regions such as 500:1 leverage and a five percent annual percentage interest rate on unused margin.
All funds in FXDD Trading accounts will be held in the United States by Bank of America, an N.A. Member FDIC and clients of FXDD Trading will experience similar ‘Know Your Customer’(KYC) and Anti-money Laundering(AML) policies as those of other FXDD entities.
Branding Costs
During the week Finance Magnetars published two interesting articles about two very different ways brokers can reach potential clients. In Holes in The Defence: How Blue Chip Football Clubs Inspect Forex Partners? We see that sport teams can pocket millions in deals with brokers without really knowing who is behind the photo-op or what baggage do they bring along.
In How much does it cost to acquire forex customers using Google? Finance Magnates spoke to brokers, marketing professionals and sources closely involved with Google’s Adwords team. The result is a report that creates a knowledge base for acquisition costs using Google and other search based marketing methods, as well as a table of cost estimates for major countries.
