Fazzaco Weekly Digest: eToro Cuts 6% of Workforce; Swissquote Launches Six New Cryptocurrencies; ADSS Onboards Alison Higgins as Chief Trading Officer

Take a look at the latest happenings in this week's news digest from around the forex and fintech industry. Here are some of the top headlines from this past week.

1. eToro Cuts 6% of Workforce to Balance Growth and Profitability​

eToro has announced that it will take certain cost reduction actions associated with its business, including 6% of workforce reduction.

It is reported that eToro plans to lay off about 100 employees, half of them come in its headquarters in Israel and the other half in its overseas offices, accounting for 6% around of the company's total workforce. Meanwhile, eToro officially announced the cancellation of its planned merger and listing with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) FinTech Acquisition Corp V.

Fazzaco to Launch Business Awards 2022​

2.FCA Issues Warning Against 35 Unauthorized Companies

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in two weeks issued warnings against 35 new companies that are soliciting customers in the UK jurisdiction without any licenses or are clones of authorized platforms. 

The FCA warns that all firms and individuals carrying out financial services activities in the UK have to be authorised or registered by them. It strongly advises the public to only deal with financial firms that are authorised, and to check the Financial Services Register to avoid scams and unauthorised firms.

3. ADSS Onboards Alison Higgins as Chief Trading Officer​

Fazzaco learned that Abu Dhabi-headquartered brokerage ADSS, formerly known as ADS Securities, has announced the appointment of Alison Higgins as the company's Chief Trading Officer.

Alison brings with 18 years of experience at international financial institutions. As seen on her Linkedin profile, prior to joining ADSS, she previously served as Managing Director, Global Head of FX, Rates and Commodities at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE's largest bank and one of the world's largest financial institutions. She joined the bank in March 2015 as Director.

4. GCEX Opens New Office in Dubai, Taps Mehtap Önder as Managing Director, MENA

Digital brokerage, GCEX  (GCEX Group) is expanding into the MENA region with the opening of a Dubai office and the appointment of former Regional Director of CFH Turkey (now Finalto), Mehtap Önder as Managing Director, GCEX MENA.

GCEX's launch in Dubai follows on from the firm being granted provisional regulatory approval by the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in Dubai (VARA) in April 2022 to operate as a crypto exchange. The firm is now in the process of applying for a license, in accordance with VARA requirements.

5. Swissquote Expands Crypto Options with Six New Cryptocurrencies​

Fazzaco learned that Swissquote, Switzerland's leading bank in online financial services, has announced its addition of six new cryptocurrencies to its offering, bringing the total number of cryptocurrencies available on the platform to 34.

These new cryptocurrencies include CHILIZ (CHZ), Enjin Coin (ENJ), Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR), DECENTRALAND (MANA), ApeCoin (APE) and AUDIUS (AUDIO).

6.Binance Cuts BTC Trading Fees to Zero Globally

Binance will cut bitcoin (BTC) trading fees to zero worldwide as of July 8, stepping up competition with its rival cryptocurrency exchanges.

Trading fees are being eliminated across 13 stablecoin and fiat combinations including BTC/USDT, BTC/USDC and BTC/BUSD, Binance announced Wednesday.

The cut in fees is an extension of a program the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume introduced in the U.S. last month.

7. Exness Posts 12% Jump in Trading Volume During June 2022​

Exness, a leading global multi-asset broker, has released the trading volume statistics with forex and contracts for differences (CFDs) instruments on its platform for the month of June 2022.

According to the broker, the total trading volume for the month came in at $2249 billion, which is up from last month's $2004 billion. That was a month-over-month increase of almost 12.2 percent.