Fazzaco Weekly Digest: USGFX Bankruptcy Final Hearing Scheduled; UK and Singapore to Launch New Financial Partnership

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. USGFX Bankruptcy Final Hearing Scheduled for October 28-29

BRI Ferrier, the liquidator of bankrupt Australian Retail forex broker Union Standard International Group Pty Ltd (USGFX), has updated a fact sheet and timetable.

The Court also confirmed at the hearing the appointment of two “contradictors” acting as representatives for the major creditor classes, being “trading” clients and “investor” clients, and their respective legal counsels. 

According to the document the liquidator published, the final hearing date has been set for 28 and 29 October 2021.

2. UK and Singapore to Launch New Financial Partnership

The UK and Singapore has announced the launch of a new Financial Partnership at the sixth UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue held virtually on 30 June 2021.

Under the Partnership, the UK and Singapore will explore opportunities for greater financial cooperation, including enhanced information sharing, closer cooperation in international fora, as well as regulatory deference, to drive new and broader opportunities for financial services trade and cooperation. 

The two countries also announced an MoU to enhance bilateral cyber security cooperation, including the sharing of cyber-related information and supervisory best practices. 

3. How Forex CRM Providers Can Keep Up with Market Trends

For the forex industry, customer acquisition hasn't been a concern for some time now. Record high trading volumes have been elevating forex brokers' businesses ever since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic. However, this has increased the pressure to maintain good and stable relationships with customers.

A recent survey by Fazzaco on 21 forex brokers revealed that 90% of them reported better performance after using a Forex CRM. At the same time 50% of the brokers longed for optimized features, particularly in areas of lead generation and business intelligence. 

4. How Many Payment Solutions on Average does A Small to Mid-size FX Broker Need?

Fazzaco has found an interesting vote initiated on LinkedIn which polled industry participants on how many payment solutions on average they thought a small to mid-size FX broker needed.

57 percent of the votes cast went to 5-8 payment solutions. This was followed by 3-5 and 8+ solutions with 29 percent and 14 percent respectively. None of those who voted believed that 1-2 payment methods were able to support the operation of a small or mid-size forex brokerage firm.  

5. Russia's Famous Hermitage Museum Negotiates with Binance to Issue NFTs

The world-renowned State Hermitage Museum in Russia is holding talks with Binance, the leading cryptocurrency exchange on the issuance and sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for works of art from its rich collection. 

The Hermitage Museum hopes to use the NFTs to attract additional funding. However, it remains unclear whether the tokens fall under the existing regulations.

6. Over 60 Crypto Firms Withdrawing Application From UK FCA

Fazzaco learned that an increasing number of crypto asset firms are withdrawing their applications to register with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Around 64 applications have been withdrawn, which is up from 51 in early June.

The FCA has established a Temporary Registration Regime (TRR) to allow existing cryptoasset firms, who have applied to be registered with the FCA before 16 December, to continue trading.

7. Interactive Brokers Reports 33% YoY Jump in DARTs in June 2021​

Interactive Brokers, one of the biggest US-based brokerage firm, recently posted its trading volumes for the month of June, indicating a jump in all trading metrics.

More specifically, the broker registered a DARTs of 2.471 million, 33% higher than a year earlier, and 10% than last month. Client equity came in at $363.5 billion, 79% higher than prior year and 4% higher than prior month. Client margin loan balances totaled $48.8 billion, up 96% compared to the previous year and increased by 7% than the previous month.

In terms of client accounts, this number rose to 1.41 million, 61% higher than prior year and 2% higher than prior month.