Fazzaco Weekly Digest: Brookfield Hires Ex-Worldpay Boss; 31 Brokers' Client Profitability in October; BNY Mellon Introduces Universal FX

Last week, Saxo Bank, Plus500, Tradeweb​, and other financial services providers released their quarterly/monthly reports. Fazzaco also collected the data of the profit/loss ratio of client accounts from 31 brokers in October 2023, seeing the winning rate of client accounts increase slightly on a month-on-month basis.

The crypto industry, represented by Binance and HTX (formerly HUOBI), is still struggling. Binance decided to stop offering its Visa debit card services in the EEA on December 20 amid increased regulatory pressure. HTX has frequently rebranded its name due to a series of events.

High-level turnover is also commonplace in the financial services sector. Firms such as Devexperts, Zara FX​, and Morgan Stanley​ announced their latest senior appointments. Among them, the former head of Worldpay's departure to Brookfield has attracted great attention in the industry.

In terms of trading technology, BNY Mellon launched its new FX platform, Universal FX, while Brokeree Solutions announced the integration of its flagship liquidity management solution with Spotware's cTrader.

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

1. Brookfield Hires Ex-Worldpay Boss to Lead Push into Payments​

Brookfield has hired Sir Ron Kalifa, the former head of payments group Worldpay, to lead its push into financial infrastructure assets as the Canadian investment group expands further beyond the property empire it is best known for.

Kalifa, who led London-based Worldpay for 10 years and is a director at the Bank of England, will join Brookfield as a vice-chair and head of its financial infrastructure strategy. 

2. Fazzaco Reports: Client Account Profit/Loss Ratio of 31 Brokers in October 2023

Fazzaco collected the data of profit/loss ratio of client accounts from 31 brokers in October 2023. The brokers we have in this month-on-month comparison were the same as last month.

Among the 31 brokers this month, an average of 27.82% of client accounts achieved profits, while 72.18% of client accounts suffered losses. Compared with the average data in September, the winning rate of client accounts increased by 0.48%.

3. Binance to Shut Down Its Visa Debit Card Services in EEA in December​

Crypto giant Binance announced last Friday (October 20) that it will stop offering its Visa debit card services in the European Economic Area (EEA) on December 20, 2023. Binance accounts will not be affected, said the exchange.

The Binance Visa debit card service was launched in the EEA in September, 2020, allowing users to convert crypto assets in their Binance accounts into local currencies to pay for their purchases in stores and online.

4. Listen to the Article: From "Huobi" to "HTX": The Story Behind The Exchange's Rebranding Hassle

In October 2022, Huobi Global was officially acquired by About Capital. A month later, on November 22, 2022, Huobi announced a rebranding, changing the Chinese brand name from "火币/火幣 (literally means Fire Coin)" to "火必 (pronounced the same, but literally means Fire Must", while vowing to pursue global development and "return to the top three crypto exchanges".

However, less than a year after the rebranding in 2022, Fazzaco reported in September 2023 that Huobi had changed its name again, with its English name becoming HTX and its Chinese name reverting back to "火币/火幣", and the official full name will be "火币/火幣HTX". According to HTX's official explanation, H stands for Huobi, T stands for TRON, and X stands for "exchange". Moreover, HT is also the name of Huobi's token, so HTX can also be seen as an exchange for trading HTs.

5. BNY Mellon Introduces New FX Platform Universal FX​

Less than two days after launching a new white label service product, BNY Mellon yesterday (October 25) announced that it has launched Universal FX, a new FX platform that meets the needs of clients to manage execution across their entire portfolio, while also providing them with market-leading price transparency.

Built on the bank's OneFX suite of innovative solutions and banking capabilities for all FX trading, FX hedging and cross-border payment activities, Universal FX supports BNY Mellon clients across all market segments, such as investment managers, corporates, hedge funds and wealth managers, as well as helping them navigate the industry transition to T+1 settlement.

6. Brokeree Integrates Liquidity Bridge with cTrader

Brokeree Solutions, a developer of turnkey technology solutions for multi-asset brokers, announced on Monday (October 23, 2023) the integration of its flagship liquidity management solution - multi-platform technology Liquidity Bridge with Spotware's cTrader, a true STP/ECN trading platform.

Brokeree notes that this integration offers all cTrader-based brokers access to turnkey technology to enhance their trading ecosystem. Now these brokers can access and enhance their trading infrastructure with the robust order execution core of Liquidity Bridge, to achieve deep and diverse liquidity, but also to connect back-up servers to ensure efficient risk-management.

7. Saxo Bank Experiences Overall Decrease in Trading for September 2023​

Saxo Bank, the Copenhagen based online trading and investment specialist, has disclosed its client trading volumes for the month of September 2023, indicating an across-the-board decrease in activity.

Total multi-asset trading volumes on the platform in September stood at $438.3 billion, a decline of 3 percent from $453.7 billion in August 2023.