US FX market becomes increasingly monopolized as MONEX goes official on IBFX deal

Following FXCM’s (NYSE:FXCM) announcement last week that it had finalized a deal with Japanese retail FX giant MONEX Group to purchase subsidiary IBFX’s US and Australian clients, MONEX Group has today made an official statement with respect to the transaction, representing yet another retail client base which FXCM will acquire, the latest in a long line of substantial client book acquisitions made recently by the US firm.

MONEX Group’s announcement states that TradeStation Group, Inc, under the steerage of CEO, Salomon Sredni, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monex Group, Inc., announced on September 5, 2014 (ET) that TradeStation’s subsidiaries, IBFX, Inc. and IBFX Australia Pty Ltd (collectively, “IBFX”), which run a foreign exchange margin transaction business (“FX business”), will be transferring their customers who use the MetaTrader 4 (“MT4”) FX trading paltform, a part of their FX business, to FXCM Holdings, LLC (“FXCM”). Under the agreement with FXCM, FXCM’s subsidiary, Forex Capital Markets, LLC, will be receiving the IBFX, Inc. MT4 trading platform accounts, and FXCM’s subsidiary, FXCM Australia Limited, will be receiving the IBFX Australia Pty Ltd MT4 trading platform accounts.

IBFX has been offering two FX services: “MT4,” an FX trading platform licensed to IBFX by MetaQuotes Software Corp., and the “TradeStation” platform, which was developed and is owned by TradeStation. TradeStation will now concentrate its resources and efforts on the “TradeStation” platform offering for its FX business.

The company cites the reason for the transfer of its clients as providing the opportunity to devote more resources and efforts to the “TradeStation” platform offering for IBFX’s FX business.

In terms of the outline of the transfer of clients, and the assets to be transferred, retail accounts relating to the “MT4” FX business of IBFX will be subject to a complete migration to FXCM, and MONEX Group has not disclosed the transfer price.

MONEX has confirmed that the transferee is New York-based FXCM Holdings, LLC, through its subsidiaries, Forex Capital Markets, LLC and FXCM Australia Limited. FXCM Holdings, LLC is the main subsidiary of FXCM Inc., a U.S. publicly-traded company, and that the representative responsible for the transaction is Drew Niv, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of FXCM
Inc, which is the sole managing member of FXCM Holdings, LLC.

The date on which the contract came into force was August 29, 2014, according to MONEX Group, and the company has set a tentative date for completion of the assignment, which is September 19-20, 2014.

MONEX Group is in the process of analyzing the impact on its consolidated financial results relating to the transfer of the MT4 retail accounts in the U.S. segment, and the company has stated that it will report the results of its analysis promptly following its completion.

To read the full announcement, click here.

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