When we reported last week that Forex Club had raised what we understand is in the ballpark of $15 million from Russia-based private equity firm Quadro, we also speculated that Forex Club might be abandoning the U.S. for greener pastures elsewhere.
The reasons for our speculation were a) the press release announcing the Quadro investment emphasized several times the Russian-speaking market, and b) Forex Club’s U.S. client assets have dwindled to just $2.8 million. Maintaining the required $20 million + in regulatory capital in the U.S. to support just $2.8 million in client assets doesn’t make much sense in the long term.
Well today’s announcement that Forex Club has hired ex-E*Trade senior vice president Michael Klena as head of their U.S. operations seems to contradict our assumption. It looks like Forex Club, which along with Alpari dominates the Russian Forex market, is going to give it one more go in the U.S.
Interestingly, E*Trade itself recently decided to launch its own retail FX brand, via a White Label agreement with FXCM.