Fazzaco Weekly Digest: Fidelity Institutional's Executive Move; MonFX Acquires CMS License; Swissquote to Launch Crypto Trading Platform

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

1. Fidelity Institutional Hires Rohit Mahna as Head of Client Growth

Fidelity Institutional, the division of Fidelity Investments dedicated to providing technology, solutions and insights to wealth management firms and institutions, announced yesterday that Rohit Mahna has been hired as Head of Client Growth, effective January 2022.

In his new role, Mahna will lead the Fidelity Institutional Client Relationship Group, comprised of sales and relationship management teams, and will report to Mike Durbin, president of Fidelity Institutional. 

2. PrimeXM Withstands Hosted MT4/5 Server Ransomware Attack

Fazzaco learned that the FX trading industry technology provider PrimeXM has been under a hosted MT4/5 server ransomware attack last week, which was discovered on Thursday the 9th of December 2021.

Fortunately, the company has confirmed that less than 3% of Hosted Clients experienced any impact to their trading operations, and that based on the evidence there was no data breach or backdoor present in the malware. And the security of PrimeXM's internal systems, including XCore trading infrastructure, was not compromised or suffered any interruptions at any point.

3. MonFX to Expand Presence in Asia with CMS License

Fazzaco learned that MonFX, a specialist in commercial foreign exchange, has obtained a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

As an independent subsidiary of Monex Europe Holdings Limited, MonFX started its operations in Singapore in 2018, and now becomes one of few companies that hold both CMS license Sand the Major Payment Institution (MPI) license.

4. Swissquote to Launch Its Own Crypto Trading Platform in 2022

Swissquote, Switzerland's leading bank in online financial services, is planning to launch its own crypto exchange before the end of the first half of 2022.

Swissquote has seen a sudden surge in trading platforms for digital assets in Switzerland. The bank's ambitions include becoming the leading Swiss provider of digital assets, and they want to enable more trading in various cryptocurrencies on the platform, according to Jan De Schepper, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Swissquote.

5. Nomura Research Institute Completes Acquisition of Convergence Technologies

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI) yesterday announced that Nomura Research Institute Holdings America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary and NRI's regional headquarters in the Americas, has completed the acquisition of 100% shares of Convergence Technologies, Inc. (CT), parent company of Core BTS, Inc. (Core BTS).

Core BTS is a U.S. company that provides a full line up of services of digital transformation solutions in the area of "digital engineering", which is difficult to develop in-house and requires a high level of expertise. Through strategic partnerships with Microsoft and Cisco, Core BTS provides consulting, development and implementation, and operations in the cloud, digital development, networking and security business domains for customers in a wide range of industries, including retail, healthcare and manufacturing.

6. Finvasia Expands Presence with Acquisition of ZuluTrade

Fazzaco learned that Finvasia Group, a fast growing FinTech company, has announced the acquisition of ZuluTrade, a leading multi-broker, social and copy trading platform, to increase its share in the investment market.

In addition to ZuluTrade, the acquisition deal includes AAAFx, which holds a portfolio management license from HCMC and is the default broker for the services of ZuluTrade.

7. UK Advertising Watchdog Slams eToro, Coinbase for 'Misleading' Crypto Ad​

Fazzaco learned that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the British advertising regulator, has cracked down on eToro, Coinbase for running paid 'irresponsible' and 'misleading' ads on online platforms to promote their cryptocurrency services.

Coinbase's ad was seen on Facebook on July 27, 2021, that included the test: "£5 in #Bitcoin in 2010 would be worth over £100,000 in January 2021. Don't miss out on the next decade, get started on Coinbase today." However, eToro's ad appeared on the Yahoo Finance website on August 27, 2021, which primarily promoted the platform's ready-made crypto investment portfolio.