Mike Fox
LeapRate Analyst
July 20, 2016 BY Mike Fox

China's UnionPay overseas-issued cards grows 40% YoY

UnionPay International, a subsidiary of China UnionPay focused on the growth and support of UnionPay’s global business is accelerating its localization overseas by enlarging card-issuing scale abroad, and by supporting overseas cardholders' card-using in the local market, China and other countries and regions. Latest data show that, by this June, the transaction volume of overseas-issued UnionPay cards…

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July 20, 2016 BY Mike Fox

The Fed bars former Forex trader from banking industry for his manipulation of benchmarks

The Federal Reserve Board announced yesterday it is prohibiting a former FX trader from participating in the banking industry for his manipulation of FX pricing benchmarks. Matthew Gardiner, a former FX trader at Barclays PLC and at UBS AG, used electronic chat rooms to coordinate FX trading, facilitate manipulation of FX pricing benchmarks, disclose confidential customer information…

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July 19, 2016 BY Mike Fox

ESMA recommends granting Jersey funds and managers an AIFMD Passport

The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) today welcomed the recommendation that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) made to the European Parliament, Council and Commission it should be amongst those ‘third countries’ granted an (Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive) AIFMD passport. The JFSC has fully engaged with ESMA and has been working closely with Member State…

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July 19, 2016 BY Mike Fox

XTX Markets joins Broadway Technology as liquidity provider

Today it was announced that XTX Markets has joined Broadway Technology as a liquidity provider. Broadway Technology is a leading provider of high-performance financial trading solutions for electronic fixed-income markets. XTX is a leading electronic trading firm partnering with exchanges and e-trading venues globally to provide liquidity in FX and derivatives markets. “Broadway Technology is an established vendor of choice…

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July 19, 2016 BY Mike Fox

GAIN Capital launches new website for FOREX.com

GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: GCAP), a global provider of online trading services, today launched a refresh of its global retail FX brand, FOREX.com, which includes a new visual identity and updated online presence. In addition, the brand refresh has officially launched for FOREX.com's Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) regulated service in Canada, which will…

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July 19, 2016 BY Mike Fox

Chan Wai Kin joins XTX Markets as Head of Sales for Asia

XTX Markets today announced that Chan Wai Kin has joined the firm’s sales team as Head of Sales for Asia. He was formerly Head of FICC eCommerce (APAC) at Morgan Stanley and previous to that, led the eFX sales team within the APAC (ex-Japan) region at Deutsche Bank. Jeremy Smart, Global Head of Sales at…

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July 19, 2016 BY Mike Fox

BGC Partners set to acquire financial derivatives provider Sunrise Brokers

BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP) a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the businesses of Sunrise Brokers Group, an independent financial brokerage with a leading reputation in worldwide equity derivatives. Details of the transaction were not disclosed, and completion of…

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July 19, 2016 BY Mike Fox

Japan Exchange Group launches new derivatives trading system from Nasdaq

Japan Exchange Group (JPX) and Nasdaq have officially announced that JPX has gone live with their new next-generation derivatives trading system for the JPX subsidiary, Osaka Exchange. This is a milestone in the relationship between Nasdaq and JPX, who have been working together since 2011. “We are proud to be supporting JPX as they successfully launch their new…

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July 19, 2016 BY Mike Fox

Kenya's financial regulator to bring Forex broker regulation home

The African country of Kenya's financial regulator Capital Markets Authority (CMA) today has published draft 'Capital Markets Licensing Requirements' for 'Online Forex Brokers and Conduct of Online Forex Business Regulations 2016' to provide the requisite regulatory framework to safeguard effective and secure online forex trading in Kenya. A couple of years ago we reported on LeapRate,…

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