FX Industry Week Review: IG CEO resigns, InterTrader buys Sigma Trading, FXall for sale, and lots more

forex industry news update

Looking back, this seems like the week when ESMA’s Forex and CFD leverage cap – which ESMA formally extended for a further three months, with minor modifications – really began to make its mark on the online trading industry as a whole.

Revenue and earnings misses.

Executives departing.

CFD brokers being sold.

And this is probably just the beginning of the fallout.

Some of our most viewed and commented-on posts from the past week include:


sigma tradingExclusive: GVC’s InterTrader buys CFD and spreadebetting broker. LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned that InterTrader, the Retail FX arm of gaming giant GVC, has expanded its financial footprint by buying a London based online CFD and Spreadbetting broker. GVC is one of the world’s largest sports betting and gaming groups. It operates a number of brands including bwin, Sportingbet, partypoker, partycasino and Foxy Bingo. What did GVC / InterTrader buy? From whom? Get all the details, exclusively at LeapRate.

Peter Hetherington

Peter Hetherington resigns as CEO of IG Group. In something of a surprise move, UK online trading leader IG Group announced that CEO Peter Hetherington is stepping down both from his management role and the Board, effective immediately. What’s next? Succession plan? Get all the details, always first at LeapRate.

Plus500 officeBlackRock picks up $152 million, 7% stake in CFD broker Plus500. LeapRate has learned via regulatory filings that FCA regulated online CFDs broker Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) has acquired another large institutional shareholder, with US investment giant BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK) picking up a 7.02% interest in Plus500. Who else has recently become a major Plus500 shareholder? Get all the details, always first at LeapRate.

cmc markets officesCMC Markets shares dive after disappointing Trading Update. Shares of CMC Markets traded down more than 12% on Tuesday morning, after the company issued a Trading Update indicating that its Revenues would fall more than expected in its Fiscal 2019 financial year. By how much does CMC expect its Revenues to fall from last year? What’s to blame? Get all the details, always first at LeapRate.

cfd-leverage-esmaESMA renews CFD leverage cap – but relaxes one item. Not very surprisingly, pan European regulator ESMA has decided to extend its restriction on Forex and CFD leverage for a further 3 months, beyond the initial 3 month “trial” period which ends November 1. However, ESMA did give something back, relaxing one of the CFD marketing restrictions. Which restriction did ESMA relax? Get all the details, now at LeapRate.

Blackstone officeFXall may be on the block again – for $3 billion? It seems as though a planned sale of institutional FX ECN FXall is being considered. And, that the business could fetch more than $3 billion. That certainly seems like a very big number, given that FXall was acquired by Thomson Reuters in July 2012 for $625 million – roughly a fifth of the current proposed price. What’s going on? Get all the details, now at LeapRate.

In other Forex industry executive moves this past week…

  • Exclusive: FIXI plc adds Tom Tragett as Chief Market Analyst, David Freeman as Head of Retail FX.
  • Integral appoints Gavin Bambury as Chief Technology Officer.
  • Cobalt names Darren Coote Managing Director.

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