During the past week, a few brokers had to reduce their international presence, with the story about IronFX withdrawing from regulations in Russia making the biggest impact within the industry.
Other popular and important stories included Saxo Bank's determination to maintain its presence in Cyprus, analysis of the annual report for 2014 by Dukascopy Bank and the ongoing saga between KPMG and the clients of defunct broker Alpari UK.
Saxo on Cyprus and MT4
On Monday, Saxo Bank’s Executive Vice President, Mateo Cassina, spoke with Finance Magnates about the company's plans with regards to operations in Cyprus and the transition from MT4.
Elaborating on the adoption rates of the broker's new proprietary platform, Mr. Cassina said, “Back on the 27th of May, 35 percent of all unique trading platforms users were trading on SaxoTraderGO."
XTB Thinking Big
On Tuesday it was reported that, online brokerage X-Trade Brokers (XTB) is considering listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange with an offering worth up to €200 million ($224 million).
Speaking with Finance Magnates, Jakub Maly, the CEO of XTB, confirmed that the firm might be considering an IPO. This was the maximum information the CEO was able to share at the time, but it is expected by other sources 2016 will be the year XTB lists on the Warsaw Stock Exchange .
IronFX Downsizing Global Presence
On Wednesday, IronFX has confirmed to Finance Magnates that it withdrawn its membership from CRFIN and no longer has a need for an office in Russia. Meanwhile, online job sites are filled with CVs of former and current employees of the Russian and Ukrainian offices of IronFX, including the CEO of IronFX Global Ukraine.
The company has also recently removed its registrations with Italian CONSOB, the German BaFin and exited the emerging Forex market of Nigeria. Readers draw severe conclusions about the state of IronFX in the comments section.
Segregated Funds Start to Trickle
On the same day as the IronFX news broke out, it was revealed that Alpari UK clients who have filed claims with the KPMG administrators of the bankrupt broker will finally be receiving their first batch of payments.
However, the distribution of client money amounts to only 55 cents on the dollar. The payment is only the first batch and there are no warranties as to how much more can be recovered.
Dukascopy's Disappointments
On Thursday, Dukascopy Bank has informed its clients that it is terminating its business operations in Japan. The termination came as a surprise as no official announcement about entering the Japanese market has ever been made by the Swiss broker.
Just the day before Finance Magnates published an extensive review of the Dukascopy’s earnings for 2014 which revealed stagnating revenues and profitability. Gross profit amounted to CHF 1.3 million ($1.29 million) which is lower by 76.8% when compared to the full year 2013.
