During the passing week the most interesting stories from the online trading world included some very high profile sports sponsorships, serious fines and of course the industry's biggest event of 2016, the Finance Magnates London Summit.
Sports Stars
On Monday we reported that regulated broker XM has concluded a sponsorship deal with the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Bolt said: “I’m happy to enter into a partnership with award-winning Forex and CFD broker XM. XM and I have similar brand values and aim to be the best at what we do. Their reputation has helped them to become an industry leader. Similar to XM, my focus has always been to be the fastest.”
Later in the week it was revealed that Rakuten, Inc. (TSE: 4755), parent company of Rakuten Securities - one of the largest foreign exchange brokers in Japan - has signed a huge new sponsorship deal to be the official partner of the La Liga champions FC Barcelona, covering the 2017-18 to 2020-21 seasons.
Trading Stars
After months of anticipation, on Tuesday the annual Finance Magnates London Summit 2016 concluded, capped off by one of the world’s most anticipated and prestigious events, the Finance Magnates Awards Ceremony. BestX won Most Outstanding Institutional FX Product and Saxo Bank won Best Forex Broker - for the full list see the official announcement.
For an example of what you lost out on if you weren't at the event see the summary of the CEO panel. Commenting on the Trump election, the CEO of FXCM, Drew Niv, stated: “It’s the biggest sea change in the financial industry since the financial crisis. If the new administration repeals Dodd-Frank, the rest of the world might follow. The repeal of Dodd-Frank will reduce costs for FXCM between $5 and $10 million.”
New Fines
On Wednesday two regulatory actions from around the world made headlines. In Israel, the local watchdog issued its first ever fine for offering binary options without a license. D.G.I. Media Ltd has been fined a total of NIS 500,000 (over $125,000) and its owner and CEO is now banned from holding a similar position for two years.
Meanwhile, New Zealand-registered forex broker IB Capital FX and its two agents were fined $35.42 million to settle claims of soliciting funds for retail forex trading without being registered by the U.S. CFTC. The regulator stated that the company accepted at least $50 million from approximately 1,850 customers in the U.S. and other countries, while they have never been registered in any capacity with the commission.
Trump High
On Thursday we received another example of how the American elections have taken the financial world by storm. Interdealer broker ICAP Plc reported a massive $240 billion in trading volumes on its forex platform EBS as markets reacted to considerable volatility set off by the presidential elections.
ICAP also said in today’s update that as the first signs of Donald Trump’s victory in elections emerged, its electronic fixed-income Trading Platform Brokertec saw $437 billion in sales of U.S. Treasuries.
Trading Floor
On Friday we exclusively reported that CPattern, retention automation and conversion processes specialist, is launching a new product called Floor Management.
CEO Oded Shefer explained: “The Floor Management concept fits well at this point in time, when regulation becomes stricter. As a complementary service to CRM, the Floor Management enables our clients to gradually automate crucial elements of their operation, module by module. The right amount of automation could have a significant impact on a broker’s performance.”
