Looking back at the most intriguing and popular industry news from the past week between 17th and 21st May on LeapRate.
Multi-asset brokerage Admirals announced it has launched a new copy trading service for its clients. The new service comes as a response to the recent growing interest in social and copy trading. It will be available for users who have Trade.MT4 account that was opened in Admirals Cyprus Ltd after 9.01.2021.
The FCA regulated arm of Admirals, Admiral Markets UK Limited, reported strong growth in trading volumes in 2020. The company saw profit of £730,257 for the year, up 90% from £384,270 in 2019. The active user accounts in the UK division also went up by 80%.
Online multi-asset trading and investment specialist Saxo Bank has announced the appointment of Simon O’Malley as the new Chief Financial Officer and Board Member of its subsidiary, Saxo Markets UK. The appointment will take effect on 26 July 2021. O’Malley brings a wealth of experience with more than two decades in the financial services industry, having worked at several global banks.
The foreign exchange settlement provider CLS Group has appointed two new members to its Board of Directors at its annual general meeting on 17 May 2021. The two new appointments are of Gottfried Leibbrandt (Independent Director) and Shuta Okawara (MUFG Bank). Gottfried Leibbrandt has previously served as Chief Executive Officer of SWIFT between 2012 and 2019. Currently, Shuta Okawara works as Managing Director and Head of the Transactions Services Division of MUFG Bank. His career has been mainly focused on extensively around custody and clearing.
StoneX Group’s subsidiary, StoneX Markets LLC launched significant improvements to its self-service OTC Platforms for commodities trading. Together with its integration into the StoneX Group ecosystem, it provides a single, digitized offering which allows users to fully access, manage and execute futures and options trading offered through the affiliated FCM, StoneX Financial Inc., as well as access to OTC markets offered through StoneX Markets LLC as a counterparty.
BCS Global Markets, the investment services division of Russian independent broker, has appointed Evelina Evtimova to lead Legal and Compliance functions, providing support across business lines and geographies, including Russia, the UK, the US, and Cyprus. Evtimova will be responsible for streamlining controls, aligning policies and procedures across BCS Financial Group. She will also bring in new technology and leading legal and compliance projects and initiatives.
FX risk management and alternative banking solutions provider to corporates and institutions internationally Alpha FX Group plc appointed Vijay Thakrar to the Board as an independent non-executive Director with immediate effect. Thakrar is a Chartered Accountant and has vast strategic, commercial and governance experience with fast growth public companies.
TradingHub, which provides trade data analytics to those in financial services, has recently made an announcement stating that its trading analytics tools are to be made available via J.P. Morgan’s Securities Services. Amongst the trading solutions which will now be on offer to buy-side clients of J.P. Morgan is TradingHub’s latest Transaction Efficiency and Accuracy Monitor (TEAM). The new tool is set to be offered to institutional clients via its open data and analytics platform.
London Stock Exchange Group plc appointed David Harris to lead its Sustainable Finance product team, part of the Data & Analytics division. Harris joined FTSE in 2002 and since then has played a significant role in developing FTSE Russell’s sustainable finance index and data starting with FTSE4Good Index Series, before supporting the development of a wide variety of products including FTSE Russell’s Smart Sustainability, Green Revenues, Climate indexes and associated data analytics.
Pepperstone launched new UK, German and Australian shares enhancing the brokers’ range of top US equities. Pepperstone offers shares on some big names such as Tesla, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The broker’s global shares are now exclusively available through the MetaTrader 5 platform. Traders using Pepperstone will receive access to comprehensive suite of analytical tools for price analysis and forecasting, as well as the ability to trade in the aftermarket and to utilize powerful charting and execution tools.
oneZero hired Marc Reider as Director of Hub Product Management. At his new position, Reider will be responsible for building the advanced execution and risk management capabilities of oneZero’s Hub technology to meet the needs of institutional clients.
Institutional foreign exchange liquidity and prime-of-prime service provider Advanced Markets, announced Samer Mourched has joined the company as CEO of the newly established Bermuda arm of the company. Mourched will also lead the group’s Emerging Markets strategy and expand further the firm’s product and market reach within developing regions. The appointment follows the recent investment round announced by Forexify and Corbel Capital Partners joining shareholders Macquarie Group and GFI Group LLC.
Multi-asset trading platform for retail and professional traders Vantage FX made a few significant upgrades to its UK services, part of its strategic push into the UK. Following extensive market research in UK traders’ interests, Vantage FX has introduced several new features and services covering diverse products, easy access and a smooth user experience. The research shows that around 90% of participants trade on mobile. As a response, Vantage FX has launched a UK specific app. Furthermore, traders are looking for a one-stop-shop where they can trade a wide range of assets.
Pan-European trading venue Spectrum Markets introduced a Stop Order functionality with customised features. Investors can benefit from two advantages which Spectrum’s stop orders functionality offers. Instead of the more commonly used Last Traded Price, the venue will use Market Maker Quotes in the order book as a trigger for Stop Orders. This way the orders may be triggered when trading volumes are low and in safe conditions in terms of fair price for the execution.
Victoria Newman was appointed the next Future Director of NZX, according to an official statement from the NZX Board. Newman will take up the role from 1st July 2021, taking over from Hayley Buckley, who departs from the company on 30th June. Newman boasts extensive experience in professional services, having worked in professional development and senior strategy positions for the likes of McKinsey & Co, alongside having served three years as Principal of Virgin Green Fund.
Liquidity provider, licensed by the CySEC, Match-Prime onboarded multi-licensed fintech company Skilling. Scandinavian fintech founded by a European VC firm, Skilling offers online trading on a wide range of world markets with more than 800 instruments. Skilling aims to make trading accessible in a transparent and secure way. After thorough testing of Match-Prime’s solution, Skilling has agreed to a long-term agreement with Match-Prime
