Fazzaco Weekly Digest: SquaredFinancial Taps New CPO; South Korea Releases New Rules on CFD Trades; Interactive Brokers's Data for May
As the trading volume of financial instruments continues to grow, countries have been optimizing and creating new regulatory and trading rules to adapt to the rapid development of the financial industry. Last week, South Korea's financial regulator announced a set of measures to strengthen regulations on trading of contracts for difference (CFDs) by enhancing transparency of trading information and strengthening requirements for qualified professional investors.
Fintech firms also launched new platforms and integrations last week to meet customers' changing needs, including a new mobile integration from crypto exchange OKX and charting platform & trading social network TradingView, as well as MFX Radar, a new white label options platform launched by a multi asset technology company MahiMarkets.
SquaredFinancial founder and CEO Philippe Ghanem's return to the helm has been highlighted by a series of changes and new growth initiatives. He also appointed two new executives in line with his market expansion plans.
In addition, several financial services companies, including Interactive Brokers, released their latest trading data last week.
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.
Industry-leading FinTech firm SquaredFinancial Group announced the promotion of Philios Petrides to Chief Product Officer. With Founder and CEO Philippe Ghanem recently back in charge of the business, a significant increase in capital has been made, stronger structures are drawn, and new product strategies are created. Moreover, in line with the company's plans to expand to challenging markets, a new Global Head of Sales & Business Development for the GCC and MEA regions has been appointed, Dominique El Khoury.
A 20-year veteran of the FinTech industry, Philippe Ghanem built and contributed to the growth of two brokerage firms with millions of clients. Today, he's fully committed to leading the company he founded, to ensure SquaredFinancial thrives and reaches its full potential with ambitious talents. He is restructuring his leadership team and implementing major changes that will reshape product management, drive bigger sales growth, and increase digitalization and automation. SquaredFinancial has successfully integrated a high-tech system into its platform to upscale client volume and offer an ever-better customer experience.
2. OKX Partners with TradingView to Launch Mobile Integration
OKX, the second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume and a leading Web3 technology company, and TradingView, the world's largest charting platform and trading social network, today jointly announced the launch of a new mobile integration that enables users to trade OKX spot and derivatives through the TradingView app for the first time. The app integration is available on both Android and iOS devices.
The strengthened OKX-TradingView partnership aims to provide a more seamless and user-friendly trading experience. Users can connect their OKX account to the web and desktop versions of TradingView, as well as its mobile app, eliminating the need to switch between platforms. A unique feature of this integration is that OKX users can execute spot and derivatives trades directly via TradingView charts on the mobile app, as well as modify ongoing trades on the go.
3. Listen to the Article: After the Fintech Funding Frenzy - How to Grasp the Industry Trends?
The global fintech funding faced a sharp decline in 2022, as the technology sector suffered a widespread slump. Fintech companies raised only $63 billion throughout this year. The fourth quarter of 2022 was especially bleak, with just 599 rounds worth $8 billion, compared to 1,000 rounds worth $26 billion in the same period of 2021.
The outlook for fintech funding became even more uncertain after Silicon Valley Bank, a major lender to tech startups, filed for bankruptcy in March 2023 amid a liquidity crunch and fraud allegations.
4. South Korea FSC to Overhaul Rules on CFD Trades
The Financial Services Commission (FSC), the regulatory body of the South Korean financial industry, has finalized a set of measures intended to strengthen regulations on trading of contracts for difference (CFDs), including enhancing transparency in provision of relevant investment information, closing loopholes to prevent regulatory arbitrage, and strengthening identity verification for qualified professional investors & establishing new requirement for OTC derivatives transactions.
Until these measures are actually put into enforcement, financial authorities plan to recommend that new CFD transactions by qualified professional investors be put on hold for the next three months. Starting with the securities firms that have finished setting up a required system and an internal control framework, new transactions of CFDs will be resumed.
5. Interactive Brokers Sees 16% YoY Fall in DARTs for May 2023
Interactive Brokers, a US-based automated global electronic broker, has published the performance metrics for its Electronic Brokerage segment in May 2023, unveiling a growth in Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) on a mothly basis but a slump on a yearly basis.
The total DARTs for May stood at 1.86 million, up 5% from April 2023, but down 19% comared to that of May 2022. The platform’s client accounts for the month came in at 2.26 million, an increase of 2% month-on-month and year-over-year as well.
6. MahiMarkets Rolls out New Whitelabel Options Platform
MahiMarkets, a leading multi asset technology firm, continues scaling up its product suite with a new white label options platform, MFX Radar.
The latest offering enables brokerage customers to provide options on a variety of popular assets including FX, cryptocurrencies, gold and S&P500. With a comprehensive booking and life-cycling system, MFX Radar allows brokers to manage trades, orders, and portfolios with ease.
7. Binance Launches New Regulated Platform in Japan, Without Derivative Services
After five years out of the Japanese market, crypto exchange Binance has begun the process of establishing a new and fully regulated subsidiary in the country. The move follows the acquisition of the regulated crypto exchange Sakura Exchange Bitcoin (SEBC) in November 2022.
As part of the deal, SEBC will cease its current services by May 31 and reopen as Binance Japan in the coming weeks. Users of the exchange's global platform in the country will have to register with the new entity. The migration will be available after Aug. 1, 2023, and will include a new identity verification process to comply with local requirements.
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