Deutsche Bank takes $1.3 billion litigation charge to reserve for Russia Mirror Trade issues LeapRate

December 22, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

Deutsche Bank takes $1.3 billion litigation charge to reserve for Russia Mirror Trade issues

Investment giant Deutsche Bank AG (FRA:DBK) has set aside EUR 1.2 billion ($1.3bn) in litigation reserves, mostly to cover possible liabilities regarding suspected money laundering in Russia. The scale of the transactions flagged is growing: according to a Bloomberg report, quoting people with knowledge of the matter, Deutsche Bank has identified as much as $4 billion…

December 22, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

ESMA agrees to extend Greek bank shares short selling ban to January 11

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Monday published its official opinion, which approved an extension of the emergency short selling prohibition by the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) on the shares of certain credit institutions under the Short Selling Regulation. The previous ban expired at 24:00:00 (CET) on December 21, 2015. The new measure…

December 22, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

Japan's Forex Crown to change name to Forex Exchange

Japanese retail FX broker Forex Crown today unveiled plans to change its name, in a move set to “revive the corporate image”. As of January 15, 2016, the name of the company will be Forex Exchange Co., Ltd. The change is set to become effective several days after the broker stops supporting WinFX, a service…

December 22, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

SFO includes Societe Generale's Stephane Esper in EURIBOR investigation list

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) continues its investigation into Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) manipulation. On Monday, the SFO published a brief update, stating that former Societe Generale SA (EPA:GLE) employee Stephane Esper was included in the list of individuals to stand trial over alleged EURIBOR manipulation. Mr Esper will make his first appearance…

December 22, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

ASIC issues warning about false claims on www.usgforex.com

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) is keeping up with its strict monitoring of the retail OTC derivative sector, including margin Forex, CFDs and binary options. The regulator today published a warning regarding false claims on www.usgforex.com. In particular, the watchdog is concerned that the company operating the website is falsely claiming to be…

December 21, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

Court of Appeal reduces Tom Hayes sentence for LIBOR manipulation

The UK Court of Appeal today ruled to reduce the prison sentence of former UBS and Citi trader Tom Hayes, convicted of LIBOR manipulation. The sentence was cut from 14 years to 11 years. The new ruling, in response to Mr Hayes' appeal to the previously issued sentence, took into account all the circumstances, including…

December 21, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

FCA warns against two clones of UK Forex broker Atom8

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) keeps encountering cases of unlicensed companies willing to make use of data of authorized entities and thus attract more clients. The latest example of the use of this practice, which has become known as cloning, concerns UK Forex broker Atom8, which appears to have two clones, abusing its name,…

December 21, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

Vladimir Putin signs law on integrated currency market in CIS

Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Federation, has made another step towards the establishment of an integrated currency market in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Last week, Mr Putin signed the Federal Law On Ratifying the Agreement on Cooperation in Organising an Integrated Currency Market between Commonwealth of Independent States Member States. In…

December 21, 2015 BY Maria Nikolova

Betfair, Paddy Power shareholders approve merger proposal

A followup to LeapRate's story of the proposed acquisition of Betfair Group Ltd (LON:BET) by Paddy Power plc... Shareholders in both companies today voted in favor of the proposed scheme of the merger. The deal is set to close in the first quarter of 2016, pending certain conditions, such as sanction of the Scheme by the…

December 21, 2015 BY LeapRate Staff

FXCM shares up 135% last week: What will this week bring?

Shares of retail forex broker FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) more than doubled in value in the December 14-18 trading week. The move up is a stunning turnaround for FXCM, which has seen its shares slowly decline in value basically since January 2015, when FXCM narrowly avoided bankruptcy from losses suffered in the January 15 surprise 20%+…