LeapRate Staff
LeapRate Analyst
June 02, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

OANDA hires Saxo Bank veteran Kaz Takabatake as CEO of Asia Pacific

Retail forex broker OANDA has announced that Kazuaki 'Kaz' Takabatake has joined the firm as Managing Director and CEO of its Asia Pacific operations. Takabatake will be based in Singapore. He will be responsible for driving OANDA’s continued growth across the APAC region. He replaces Rajesh Yohannan, who had been APAC head for OANDA also out of Singapore since 2013.…

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June 02, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

SEC fines brokerage firm Albert Fried & Co $300,000 for anti-money laundering failures

Continuing its crackdown on money laundering issues at brokerage firms, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a Wall Street-based brokerage firm with failing to sufficiently evaluate or monitor customers’ trading for suspicious activity as required under the federal securities laws. An SEC investigation found that Albert Fried & Company failed to file Suspicious Activity…

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June 01, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

CFTC calls for Roundtable discussion of rules governing automated and algo trading

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that its staff will hold a public roundtable meeting, to discuss certain elements of the Commission’s notice of proposed rulemaking regarding Regulation Automated Trading (Regulation AT), including Algo trading. The Regulation AT proposed rules were initially published on December 17, 2015. The CFTC also intends to shortly announce the…

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June 01, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

Trading revenue slump leads to large investment banker layoffs at Goldman Sachs

Bloomberg is reporting that Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) has cut dozens of investment banking jobs in the last few weeks, joining securities firms that are adjusting to a slowdown in trading volume and deal activity. Goldman apparently eliminated eliminated dozens of senior positions including Managing Directors, Executive Directors and Vice Presidents across the mergers and debt and…

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June 01, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

ESMA posts updated marketing rules for CFDs, Forex and Binary Options

Pan European financial regulatory body European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has just published an updated version of its marketing rules for CFDs, Forex and Binary Options. The update was done in Q&A form, focusing on the application of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) to the marketing and sale of financial contracts for difference (CFDs)…

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June 01, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

Bats Global Markets launches liquidity management provider program for exchange-traded products

Bats Global Markets, Inc. (BATS:BATS), the second-largest stock exchange operator in the U.S., has announced the launch of what it is calling the Liquidity Management Provider (“LMP”) Program on The Bats ETF Marketplace, further incentivizing liquidity providers trading exchange-traded products (ETPs) on Bats. The LMP Program, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 12th, rewards liquidity providers…

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June 01, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

Moscow Exchange sets new listing rules effective June 7, 2016

Russian bourse Moscow Exchange will implement new listing rules effective as of 7 June 2016. The new rules update the end of the transitional period allowed for issuers to comply with new listing requirements, including corporate governance standards, to 3 October 2016. This will give issuers sufficient time to pass the necessary resolutions at their…

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June 01, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

Leverate's Forex platform gets Push SMS, Social Trading and Stop Loss upgrades

Forex platform provider Leverate has announced the release of its newest features including several updates to its platforms and systems, focusing mainly on mobile traders. As part of Leverate’s commitment to improving brokerages’ acquisition, conversion and retention rates through improved funnels and better communication with traders, the tech provider is implementing the use of deep links…

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June 01, 2016 BY LeapRate Staff

Monex Group concludes $8.3 million share buyback

Japanese online trading broker Monex Group, Inc. (TYO:8698) has announced that it has successfully concluded a one month share buyback, acquiring 3,239,100 of its own shares in the open market for a total of ¥914.7 million (or about USD $8.3 million) during May. The shares acquired represent about 1.14% of outstanding Monex Group shares. Monex Group did a…

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