Fazzaco Weekly Digest: Finance Jobs Change in 2020 - 2022; ESMA Recognizes Four New Third Country CCPs; JPMorgan Chase to Buy First Republic Bank

Last week, First Republic Bank reached an acquisition agreement with JPMorgan Chase & Co, becoming the third major US financial institution to fail within two months, following Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Binance, the crypto giant that has been the subject of a long-running investigation by US authorities, has also struggled in Israel. Since 2021, Israel has seized about 190 crypto accounts linked to terrorist groups on the platform.

Besides, IronFX, Saxo Bank, Deutsche Börse​ and Rakuten Securities​ are among the many financial institutions that released their financial reports for April or Q1 2023, or the full year of 2022.

Amid the current complex and sluggish economic environment, the issue of unemployment has become increasingly perennial. Fazzaco has collected some historical data on recruitment in the financial industry from 2020 to 2022, and we are showing you how the employment landscape has shifted in the last two years, as well as offering some insights for the future.

Here are the related details, as well as some of the most read forex, banking and crypto currency industry news pieces and articles from Fazzaco over the past week.

1. JPMorgan Chase Wins the Bid to Buy First Republic Bank​

U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said on Monday (May 1) that First Republic Bank has been seized and a deal agreed to sell the bank to JPMorgan Chase & Co, in what is the third major United States institution to fail in two months.

The banking giant will take US$173 billion of loans and about US$30 billion of securities of First Republic Bank including US$92 billion of deposits, JPMorgan said in a statement. It is not assuming the bank's corporate debt or preferred stock.

2. Admirals Opens New Office in Nigeria to Strengthen Its African Presence

Admirals Group SA, an Estonia based Retail FX and CFDs broker, announced the opening of a new office in Nigeria, aiming at strengthening its position as a major financial service provider in Africa.

With the new office, Admirals plans to offer Nigerian traders with a wide range of financial products and services including including trading in stocks, forex, and CFDs on indices, metals, energies, stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies. In addition, the company intends to enhance local financial education by providing financial education materials such as e-books, webinars, online courses, etc.

3. ESMA Announces Four Additional Recognised Third Country CCPs​

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets regulator and supervisor, today announced that it has recognised four additional third country CCPs (TC-CCPs) under Article 25 of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), bringing the total number of TC-CCPs recognised by ESMA to 39.

The recognition of these four TC-CCPs follows the conclusion of standard Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between ESMA and their respective supervisory authorities, namely the Securities Commission Malaysia, the Financial Supervisory Commission Taiwan, the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia and the Israel Securities Authority.

4. BlackBull Markets Expands Its Trading Platform Range with DXtrade

BlackBull Markets, a global broker based in New Zealand, launches its new FX and CFD trading platform BlackBull Trade based on Devexperts' DXtrade trading platform. The platform was delivered through a partnership with Devexperts, a software vendor for capital markets. BlackBull Trade is a branded and tailored version of DXtrade CFD, Devexperts' turnkey FX, CFD, and crypto trading platform.

The partnership with Devexperts includes integration with its API, so the clients of BlackBull Markets can trade directly in TradingView using their BlackBull Trade account.

5. How Finance Jobs Have Changed in 2020 - 2022​

The pulse of the financial industry's job market can be felt by scanning the job postings across the market. Fazzaco is dedicated to helping financial institutions, especially forex brokers, find new talent and opportunities. We've gone through some historical data on the industry's recruitment trends from 2020 to 2022, and we are showing you how the employment landscape has shifted in the last two years, as well as offering some insights for the future.

Brokers have been on a wild ride with their hiring numbers for the last two years, swinging up and down like a rollercoaster. The Covid-19 pandemic that started in 2020 sparked a surge in online trading, and brokers added new jobs at an erratic pace from 2020 to mid-2022. But the tide turned in the latter half of 2022, when brokers, especially the big names in the capital markets like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, slashed their workforce.

6. IronFX UK Sees Increase in 2022 Profit Despite Drop in Revenue​

Notesco UK Limited, which operates the global leader in online trading IronFX UK, registered 25 percent drop in revenue from 2021’s $863,071 to $643,795 in the full year of 2022. The 2021 revenue, However, enjoyed a jump of over 100 percent over the prior year.

The pre-tax profit for 2022 came in at $104,262, compared to that of 2021 at $82,683. The after-tax profit grew from the prior year’s $82,683 to $83,121.

7. Israel Seizes 189 Binance Crypto Accounts Linked to Terror Groups Since 2021​

Israel has seized around 190 crypto accounts at crypto exchange Binance since 2021, including two it said were linked to Islamic State and dozens of others it said were owned by Palestinian firms connected to the Islamist Hamas group, documents released by the country's counter-terror authorities show.

Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) on January 12 confiscated two Binance accounts and their contents, one of the documents on the NBCTF's website showed. The seizure was to "thwart the activity" of Islamic State and "impair its ability to further its goals," the NBCTF said on its website.