Wirecard Chaos, Robinhood Outage, JP Markets ZA Ban: Editor's Pick

In a busy week for news, here are the standout stories from the Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term, fintech and crypto worlds in our best of the week segment.

Robinhood Crippled by “Major Outage” But Reports Partial Recovery

As Finance Magnates reported on Thursday, Robinhood experienced technical issues that kept clients from trading equities, options and also affected cryptocurrency trades.

Within a few hours, the problem was fixed but there were widespread complaints from customers who could not get into their accounts online. Complaints also included either slowness or lack of access to certain features, as well as problems trading some asset classes on the no-fee app. Others said they could not see their account balances.

Read more on the Robinhood Outage here

Wirecard Chaos

It was a crazy end to the week for the German firm Wirecard. First, Finance Magnates reported that Wirecard Shares Nosedive as €1.9 Billion in Cash Goes Missing.

In an official statement published on Thursday, the company revealed that Ernst and Young (EY), the appointed auditor, failed to find 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in cash deposits kept by the company which is equivalent to a quarter of Wirecard’s balance sheet.

Then, the following day (Friday), Markus Braun, the long-running chief executive of Wirecard, stepped down from the apex position following the revelation of €1.9 billion in missing cash from the company.

Braun’s resignation on Friday has taken an immediate effect and James Freis, the company’s chief compliance officer, is taking the charge of the company as an interim CEO. Freis joined the company on Thursday from Deutsche Börse.

Read more the Wirecard Braun Exit here.

South Africa Regulator Temporarily Suspends License of JP Markets

As Finance Magnates reported, South African regulator the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has “provisionally” suspended the licence of FX broker JP Markets SA (Pty) Ltd, citing issues in processing its clients’ withdrawals for quite some time.

The watchdog handed down a temporary suspension on the FSP license of the South Africa based-firm after it received numerous complaints from clients missing to get their deposits back.

Read more on the South African JP Markets Suspension here

HSBC Decides to Go Ahead with 35,000 Job Cuts

Global banking giant, HSBC is planning to slash around 35,000 staff over the medium term to reduce the financial effect due to the prolonged COVID-19 outbreak, the bank mentioned in an internal memo sent to its global workforce.

First reported by Reuters on Wednesday, the news came as the bank continues to plan cutting down on the operational cost.

Read more on the HSBC Job Losses here.

Is India’s Crypto Industry on the Brink of a Ban or a Boom?

As rumours of another possible blanket ban on crypto in India emerged, Finance Magnates analysed what's next for the blossoming Indian crypto market.

With valuable insight from Nischal Shetty, founder and CEO of crypto exchange WazirX, Ethan Taub, founder of Loanry and Meher Apuroop, Administrative Manager at crypto asset management company Two Prime, this is a must-read analysis on the state of crypto in India.

Read more on India's Crypto Industry here.

Russia Lifts Ban on Telegram After Unsuccessful Two-Year Block

As Finance Magnates reported, Russian state’s communications watchdog, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, said it will lift a ban on Telegram app.

The move comes two years after Russian authorities decided to block the popular encrypted messaging app.

Despite the country-wide prohibition, Telegram continues to pick up even more users in Russia and currently ranks third after WhatsApp and Viber. Its daily users in Russia grew to 4.4 million in February 2019 – the last time Telegram made this stat public. The app users have been able to access the service using VPNs.

Read more on the Russian Telegram Ban Lift here

AmEx Becomes First Foreign Firm to Clear Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term in China

American Express, the United States payments giant, has received a networking clearing license from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) through its local joint subsidiary Express Technology.

The financial company has now become the first foreign company to receive such a license in mainland China to clear RMB transactions.

Read more on the AMEX China move here

Crypto Leaders on the Future of Bitcoin: Join Us For a Free, Live Webinar

In what promises an insightful and unforgettable webinar, on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 15:00 CET, Finance Magnates is gathering four leading experts from across the cryptocurrency industry in a live webinar to discuss Bitcoin in a post-COVID-19 world. The pane,

Kyle Samani - co-founder and Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital,

Diogo Monica - co-founder and President of Anchorage,

Nischal Shetty - founder and CEO of crypto exchange WazirX,

Darryn Pollock–chief communications analyst at Huobi. -

Attendance is free but limited, so for more information and to book your place in this unmissable webinar, visit here.