After partnering with FXDD (as well as with Alpari US) last year to deal with its US client base, Dukascopy announced on Friday that they have expanded their partnership with FXDD to Europe. FXDD Europe, based and regulated in Malta, will now White Label Dukascopy’s proprietary JForex trading platform, giving FXDD clients an additional trading software option, beyond FXDD’s own FXDD Trader, MetaTrader, and several other existing options.
The original partnership announced last year was regulatory-driven – the Dodd-Frank Act removed (as of July 15, 2011) an exception given to foreign banks, which had allowed foreign banks to directly accept US retail Forex clients, as part of their overall provision of currency-related services. The few retail FX firms which are legally organized and regulated as commercial banks in their home countries had to either abandon the US market, or find a US-regulated partner to formally take on their US clients. Deutsche Bank sold their dbFX division to Gain Capital, MIG Bank partnered with Penson Futures, Saxo Bank expanded their White Label partnership with Citi, and Dukascopy (legally a Swiss bank) announced two White Label agreements with FXDD and Alpari, allowing US Dukascopy clients to legally transfer their accounts to either FXDD or Alpari, while continuing to trade via Dukascopy’s familiar JForex platform.
The newly-announced European partnership, however, has nothing to do with regulation – FXDD is already regulated in Malta, using MiFID to passport their regulation across the EU – and everything to do with functionality. FXDD apparently has had a very positive experience with the JForex platform with its US clients, and has decided it worthwhile to share some pips-earned with Dukascopy in return for allowing its non-US clients to also have access to Dukascopy’s JForex.