Broker News

Despite the buzz throughout the Forex world about the Gain Capital on April 8. Differing news releases indicate that either Gain Capital rejected the proposed acquisition as "?significantly" low or that FXCM withdrew its offer because Gain has gone ahead and purchased GFT, the trade name for Global Futures & Forex Ltd.

AvaFX has taken on a new name and has donned a fresh face. The pioneering Forex and CFD broker Ava Group is now

Finance ministers and central bankers from around the globe gathered in Washington last week for the semiannual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. They were joined by finance officials from the Group of 20 nations.

Cantor Fitzgerald is a worldwide capital markets investment bank whose name became legendary on September 11, 2001 when the company's corporate headquarters was demolished when the World Trade Center was struck. Though the company faced many financial setbacks since that time, the company's founders remained dedicated to rebuilding, and they were able to do so with the help of satellite offices throughout the world including those in London, Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Cantor Fitzgerald now possesses one of the largest institutional sales forces serving over 5,000 clients worldwide in 33 locations.

UK's main regulatory body has seen its last days. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) which has been the main body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom for over 28 years has ceased to exist. The FSA board, appointed by the Treasury in 1985, has operated independently of the government since its inception. Its main office was based in Canary Wharf, London, with another office in Edinburgh. As of this week, the FSA is no longer a regulatory agency. It has been replaced by the Bank of England; consumer arbitration will be handled by an all-new organization called the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Following Italy's ban of Cyprus-based binary options brokers, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Prudential Supervisory Authority (ACP) market and bank regulators have banned seven more Forex trading websites from operating in France.

FXCM believes that the substantial potential operating and capital synergies between the two companies would result in an accretive deal with a strong growth profile and improved economies of scale." Additionally, the merger would release close to $100 million of currently restricted cash (between the two companies), while increasing economic efficiency, largely as it relates to regulatory fees and the amount of funds that each company is currently required to segregate independently. Operating under one regulatory umbrella could arguably reduce these fees and funds exponentially. Finally, it has been suggested that a merger of these two Forex giants would yield as much as $70 million in incremental run-rate EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) once the companies are fully combined.

Italy has begun the process of banning binary option brokers from trading anywhere in the country. According to the reports that were first posted by Italian language news sites late last month, the Italian financial regulator, Consob, has decided that binary options too closely resemble gambling and after conducting preliminary investigations, the Judge of Rome, on the order of the Public Prosecutor of Rome, has directed Italian ISPs to block numerous binary options cites from appearing in Italy.