Google Crypto Ban
Recently, claims have emerged that the advertisement of cryptocurrency ventures is becoming difficult on Google. This follows a move by Facebook to ban all the cryptocurrency ads. People are wondering if Google wants to follow a similar route. There are sources saying Google has not announced any official changes concerning its policies for ICOs and cryptocurrencies. The worried voices that are coming from the marketing industry of cryptocurrencies, however, paint a different picture . Google is the chief of internet and looks like it wants to go after the fast-growing and prominent cryptocurrency industry.
Advertisers are already reporting challenges and difficulties in advertising products that are blockchain and cryptocurrency-oriented.In April 2018., Google bans all cryptocurrency mining extensions from Chrome Store. The channels which showcase content that is crypto-related are reporting that they have been banned from the platform of YouTube. The changes of policy by Google have not yet become official but many firms and PR agencies have reported a drop in the performance of customers who provide cryptocurrency services. There are even cases where the advertisers get their ads rejected and even suspension of their accounts. Some companies have also reported that they have witnessed a drop in AdWords performance by thousands in a day. The drop in the numbers coincided with the adverts that crypto-currency related being regarded as limited during submission.
The recent approach to cryptocurrency is not however limited to the realm of advertisement only. Some bloggers of cryptocurrency and shows have also reported that they have found out that their channels have been restricted or even suspended. Some of the restriction includes cancellation of the feature of Live Video and demonetizing. People are still trying to understand why it is all happening when Google has not made any official announcement of a change of its policies. People have come up with several theories whereby some are contradictory and overlapping at the same time.
One such theory is that this is an overreach by the policy of Google against malicious ads, crypto scams, and fake news. The other common interpretation is that Google is being meticulous in regard to advertisements that are coming from the cryptocurrency advertisers. There are claims that the policy of advertising is very clear by Google but when it comes to cryptocurrency firms, the approach gets a bit stricter and unforgiving as compared to the other industries.
The Prospects of a Ban
The other explanation being given by reliable sources and other forums of professionals is that it is an the intention and effort of Google to restrict advertisements related to cryptocurrency and even go to an extent of blocking them. According to a reliable source, the move of banning the cryptocurrency ads was raised by a Jason Roy, a Canadian regulator four months ago. The senior investigator said they were pleased by the move by Facebook to ban the ads and he hoped that Google enacted the same policy. The move was rejected at first by Google claiming that it did not want to prevent the whole industry from advertising as much as it was already dealing with fraudulent and misleading ads. However, it looks like it eventually changed its mind.
Sources have confirmed that Google is really intending to ban the ads which are related to cryptocurrency. Google is banning any advertising related to cryptocurrency. The update is said to go into effect starting June 2018 . The company is updating the ad policies that are related to finance to ban advertisements regarding content related to cryptocurrency including trading advice, wallets and the initial coin offerings. This means that even those firms with legit offerings of cryptocurrency will not be able to advertise through Google advertisements products. The company claims that they can’t know the future of cryptocurrencies but they have already seen potential harm and hurt to consumers that the business is causing and they want the matter to be approached with caution. As much as the boom of cryptocurrency has offered big wealth and excitement, it is a space that is still unregulated and this has given out numerous scams of high profile.
This comes after social media platforms like Facebook banned advertisements which are related to cryptocurrency so as to protect its viewers from Ponzi schemes, fraudulent sale of tokens and ICO scams. The move came with the report of “bad ads”, a review of the controversial, deceptive, malicious advertisements that Google scrubbed from its massive video, display and search network. However, this is contradictory to what the leaders of such platforms like Facebook think. The people who are responsible for creating platforms of social media like Facebook have praised cryptocurrency and the technology of blockchain underlying it. It somehow creates juxtaposition since the companies which they are responsible for have enacted policies which stifle the development and adoption of blockchain.
A representative of Facebook has said that the policy is broad intentionally as they work to detect the misleading and deceptive advertisements better. It is likely possible an advertisement from a cryptocurrency related company or business might not be allowed on Facebook even when it is not related to any aspect of cryptocurrency. Facebook is however committed to refining and revisiting the ban policy as the signals are enhanced to allow for the advertisement of services and products that are not related to cryptocurrency even from the crypto related companies. The innovative startups might have to go elsewhere if the financial watchdogs in the United States and other parts of the world do not develop clear rules for the market of cryptocurrency.
Also, there is an irony to the move of Google. As much as the adverts regarding cryptocurrency will end, Google might be stiffing the development of companies that it has actually invested in which use cryptocurrencies directly. There are companies such as Storj, blockchain-based cloud storage and the platform of payment Veem that Google has financially backed which will be unable to make advertisements on the search engine as soon as the ban is brought into effect. The move of banning cryptocurrency advertisements comes less than a year later after Alphabet; the parent company of Google put investments in Blockchain.info online wallet which is based in London. It also remains a mystery how services like this will be in a position to advertise after the ban is brought into effect.
At that time, the partner of Alphabet Hulme Tom said that the company’s investment raised almost 72 million and the overall funding was necessary since the innovation pace in the space of digital currency is unmatched. Yet the wallet providers of cryptocurrency will not have access to the biggest internet search engine in the world in less than one month – New restricted financial products policy (June 2018).
Google said last year it took down over 3.4 billion advertisements which violated its standards and regulations and this was almost double the 1.8 billion ads that were taken down the year 2016. Alphabet, the parent company of Google makes almost 80 % of its revenue from ads and there it is important to convince advertisers the company’s ecosystem is effective and safe.
The Impact of the Ban
There are a few individuals who might mourn the advertisements barrage for the shady initial coin offerings which promise a return of 10 times and more. However, the space of cryptocurrency is a new economy that is booming and such a general ban may end up hurting other cryptocurrency businesses that are legitimate. Blockchain looks like the next financial big thing and Airbnb and Uber that are blockchain-based are being envisioned already. Actually, it is hard to get an industry that the startups related to blockchain are not threatening to disrupt. In the real sense, not all the crypto businesses are scams. So is the move to ban advertising from all these businesses on the major internet platforms good?
A Cryptocurrency Company’s CEO, Trevor Gerszt said he is not afraid of the move but he does not welcome it. It is a frustration for a legitimate business like Coin IRA which has done everything to comply with policies and offer legit investment products to be punished together with the scum ICO schemes (“Exclusive: Is Google Quietly Purging Cryptocurrency Ads and Content? | Finance Magnates,” 2018). However, the ban on ads may not affect the more reputable and established businesses of cryptocurrency as more as they are bound to impact the small businesses that want to use advertisements to gain brand recognition. For the startups, this means the ban will make it harder to get funds through an ICO. For the cryptocurrency related businesses like wallets and crypto exchanges, the move to ban such ads is definitely bad news. The startups which are blockchain based will be allowed to post their ads on Google as long as they do not include the aspects of crypto in them like wallets, tokens, ICOs, and others. The policy does not apply to technologies related to blockchain which do not have a relation with ICOs and cryptocurrency but the advertisements have to adhere to the company’s other policies.
The famous biggest digital currency in the world, Bitcoin has dropped to month low after this incident. The company slumped to its lowest level in a period of less than a month after the claims banning online advertisements that promote initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency. The industrial officials have said that these regulators are required to give greater clarity of the regulations. Bitcoin dropped by 9 % to $8367 which is the lowest it has reached since January when the company announced that the restriction will start working in June (“Google bans cryptocurrency advertising,”2018).
Some of the CEOs of crypto-related business have said that they do welcome the ban and the people that might be disappointed by the move are the con artists and the scammers. The large amounts of money which are earned in ICOs are based on relationships and most issuers who are legitimate have a good connection with blockchain and crypto funds. Some CEOs argue that the ban will bring a positive transformation to the industry and will assist in cleaning garbage (“Exclusive: Is Google Quietly Purging Cryptocurrency Ads and Content? | Finance Magnates,” 2018). The CEOs of Delta and CrowdfundX are not worried either. They say Google wants a better experience of advertisements for the viewers and the cryptocurrency community as a financial market also wants legitimacy. The restrictions are definitely part of the steps to filter the illicit businesses and activities from those which are genuine and have innovative products.
The market will become stable eventually and the activities which mislead will be removed. The companies that are going through ICOS should concentrate on showing their value through evidence and creating innovative and great products. In a way, it is not strange that the legit startups which are blockchain-based are not worried about the ban. Several startups have to fend off investors like Gems and Theta that have canceled ICOs recently because they raise too much revenue in the private pre-sales . As much as some startups that are unlucky though will be hurt by being unable to advertise their sales of tokens, it looks like the blockchain space has become so hot that even the general ban will not kill or even hinder it. It may just make it slow for some time.Some experts see The Cryptocurrency Industry Might Actually Benefit From an Ad Ban
Where To ?
This is a question that cannot be answered for some time. The entire world is waiting for regulatory rules and guidelines that are clear on ICOs and cryptocurrency. As much as the likes of SEC are pioneers in this space, we might experience constant apathy towards promoting cryptocurrencies and ICOs on several online platforms for a period of time. Unless there are guidelines and firm rules that will protect may viewers and users from misleading opportunities of investments and ICO scams, the extreme sanctions will still remain. Otherwise, the efforts to ban these advertisements will go to waste if the guidelines are not very clear and strict.
Google Bans Ads for CFDs and Forex affiliates – New Restricted Financial Products Policy in June 2018
Overview – Google crypto ban
Google is the worlds leading search Engine Company and the second largest public traded entity globally. With the rising call for more accountability of institutions that deal with the general public in ensuring fair, ethical and open dealings, Google is not left behind in complying with these elements. In the recent past, there has been an uproar on the rising deceptive adverts running online, with a clear aim of confusing unsuspecting potential investors, and when they fall into the trap, they are ripped off their hard earned money. Google, being a world leader in the advertising sector through its AdWord platform has seen it necessary to exercise accountability through enabling only the certified financial advertisers on its platform. In its announcement, Google has cited ban in its platforms the advertisement relating to the initial coin offering (ICO), cryptocurrency wallets, exchanges, as well as trading advice. The ban also extends on other financial products such as binary options and spread betting. Forex advertising network will change after new Google restriction to forex trading ads.
In the past google banned search terms for lot of products. All these have to do with investor protection initiatives due to the rising fraudulent cases involving unauthorized brokers taking advantage of the high wave for quick cash in these unregulated financial products. With concerns mostly emanating from the US exchange commission concerning the ban on ICO advertisements, Google’s move is seen as a precaution to avoid a future clash with the authorities on its role in consumer data and protection. On the same note, other major players in the advertisement world such as Twitter, Facebook, Yandex have taken measures to control the same types of adverts on their sites, either by pre-approval or by total ban, due to concerns they have raised over legitimacy and also because of maintaining the overall image of these sites.
What Does Google Ban Entail – Google Bans Forex Ads ?
Google’s annual earnings in financial adverts of cryptocurrency and related products have been estimated to be over $25 million. Nevertheless, Google has mounted to the pressure of axing most of these adverts due to the security of its clients, consumer protection obligation, as well as the future accountability and company image. This is largely due to fraudulent cases associated with the unregulated cryptocurrency sector and the looming security and exchange commission rules on protection of cryptocurrency investors. Canada and the U.S. have been in the forefront leading the war on ban for adverts on ICO and calling for the establishment of regulations in the online financial sector, especially cryptocurrency which in the recent past has hit the world by storm. Many investors have lost billions of dollars, mostly emanating from deceiving adverts which unsuspecting traders fall into the prey. With. This has come to the attention of the Google as a main player in the advert world.
Financial Services: New restricted financial products policy (June 2018)
In June 2018, Google will update the Financial services policy to restrict the advertisement of Contracts for Difference, rolling spot forex, and financial spread betting. In addition, ads for the following will no longer be allowed to serve:
Binary options and synonymous products
Cryptocurrencies and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice)Ads for aggregators and affiliates for the following will no longer be allowed to serve:
Contracts for Difference
Rolling spot forex
Financial spread betting
Binary options and synonymous products
Cryptocurrencies and related content.Advertisers offering Contracts for Difference, rolling spot forex, and financial spread betting will be required to be certified by Google before they can advertise through AdWords. Certification is only available in certain countries.
To be certified by Google, advertisers will need to:
Be licensed by the relevant financial services authority in the country or countries they are targeting
Ensure their ads and landing pages comply with all AdWords policies
Comply with relevant legal requirements, including those related to complex speculative financial productsAdvertisers can request certification with Google starting April 2018 when the application form is published.
This policy will apply globally to all accounts that advertise these financial products. For more details, see About restricted financial products certification.
(Posted March 2018)
The force on the ban will come to effect on this June 2018. Brokers in the mentioned financial areas will be undergoing a thorough scrutiny before they get approval for placing the adverts. This will eliminate unscrupulous brokers who sell unregistered securities or who pose as genuine brokers only to run away with investors’ money. After scrutiny of the broker information, Google will either reject or approve the specific broker. When approved, the broker will be issued with special certification to allow them to advertise for their product in their requested target region. Nevertheless, for one to qualify for certification by Google, the firms they represent must have acquired the necessary licensing to operate in the regions they intend their adverts to target. On the other hand, they must have conformed with various laws and regulations regarding their business in order to meet the AdWord requirements for the specific geographical area.
All these processes are aimed at bringing in some sanity in the cryptocurrency sector by offering protection to the investors, especially from deceiving adverts being run by fraudulent brokers posing as legit traders. The cryptocurrency craze, especially the one witnessed by Etherium and Bitcoin has seen hundreds of other digital coins emerge, with fraudulent traders taking this advantage and floating offers in terms of advertisement for unregistered securities, which has seen either a total market collapse of the specific securities, or marginal shift in value for a short period. In this process, billions of dollars have been lost and hence the call for regularization, especially in the adverts concerning this sector as it acts as the backbone of the whole process.
A good example of a fraudulent case concerns a California based tech company Tezos, which conducted an ICO in July 2017 and got a staggering $232 million, which later would emerge that it was a fraudulent deal based on a lawsuit filed at a superior court in San Francisco, alleging violation of U.S securities law. In such a case, Google and other social media players who are more involved in advertisement of such nature have seen the need of regulating the advert content. This is amid a growing concern of the investor protection following a huge amount of losses due to reluctance in streamlining the advertising sector, as well as that of the digital currencies.
The Effects of the Ban on Google, Brokers and the Investors
Google through its platform Adwords lakes in billions of dollars in terms of advertisement revenues. In the recent past, one of its most lucrative sectors for the advertisement has been cryptocurrency related adverts. It is estimated that from this sector alone, Google earned an estimated $25 million annually in terms of advertisement revenues. Nonetheless, Google is concerned more by reputation, consumer protection and future accountability, more than revenues for now. In 2017, in a move to safeguard investors and consumers in its platforms, Google pulled down an estimated 3.2 billion ads that violated their terms of use. Through its annual report, Google indicated that it was more concerned about the user experience rather than the advertisements. Therefore, in the long run, the gain will be higher than the estimated loss in revenue for now, as more consumers gain confidence when dealing with the platform and increase their spending and advertisement due to the legitimacy of the site. This news was one of the biggest news on Bloomberg such as Bloomberg video about Google financial restriction and Bloomberg news about bitcoin drop and CNBC news about google bans cryptocurrency
For the brokers, the best time to make a difference is now. All is not lost. In fact, this is the time for those who offer genuine adverts to take the advantage and get certification as the unscrupulous brokers get scared. For the genuine brokers, this is the time for the right push for their products. As the Google positions itself as an open and genuine platform, the brokers have the opportunity to associate with these attributes now and in the future to gain investor confidence. On the other hand, as the market penetration will now become difficult, brokers can explore other options such as optimization of the Google search ranking, operating genuine websites and performing offline marketing. On the same note, trading companies can increase their social media presence, as well as increase traditional advertising such as below the line marketing and Radio or TV advertisements. This will ensure that even when they face the ban effects over the Google AdWords, their presence is still felt on the other platforms, and they are able to maintain their clientele informed.
On the investor side, the Google ban means more than ‘just a ban’. This will increase client confidence and user experience which is good for the company also. The users will feel safe and valued and therefore, giving them the confidence to transact over the platform. The ban is also a sort of assurance that the adverts which appear on the AdWords are genuine and have been verified by Google, creating a responsible environment where users can feel secure with whoever they will be dealing with. Investors are always concerned about how secure their payment will be and therefore, having a notion that the existing brokers are certified and the adverts thus are genuine, this in turn provides confidence in the choice of investment. The move will also ensure that fraudulent cases are reduced and in cases where they appear, Google is aware of how to hold accountable as it will have already verified the user and known them more.
Without consumers, organizations can barely survive and thus the need to be more vigilant in protecting them whenever possible. The move by Google can be termed as a broad move for the interest of its users and to avert future troubles of being held accountable for the damages or losses which may emanate from a non-regulated advert sector. This move has also seen other big players extend the same measures, and sooner or later, it’s the hope of many investors that they will operate in a world where deceiving adverts will be a thing of the past and where brokers will be responsible. This reality is not way too far considering the measures being taken presently to attain a free fair and genuine advertisement world.
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Inside The Maltese Prime Broker, Exante’s, 100 Million Dollar Trading Scheme
Exante is a regulated prime broker in Malta, and lately, it has been implicated in a huge cybercrime network. Potentially one of the largest financial cybercrime network in history, involving multiple traders from all over the globe. All of these traders seem to be involved in a hub, located in Ukraine, where stock trading was done via insider information that was stolen by hackers.
Insider trading is a huge crime with plenty of penalties attached to it, up to and including prison time. This is because it puts an unfair advantage on a few people trading in the stock market. This can cause people to manipulate the stock market, and earn millions of dollars in a short amount of time, thus hurting the stock market as a whole. Many studies claiming that it even lowers the cost of stocks as a whole.
The SEC, also known as the US Security and Exchange Commission, has filed charges of fraud involved in this trading ring. Over 30 people altogether were arrested and charged with generating over 100 million dollars through illegal ways. The charges state that Exante has been in possession of multiple trading accounts at Interactive Brokers and Lek Securities. Both of these offer financial services to people in regards to stocks and bonds. These trading accounts were used in connection to the scheme, which netted them alone, 2.45 million dollars.
Exante is owned by Lartemisis Holdings Ltd, and the founder and CEO are Alexey Kirienko, who also founded a hedge fund called the Global Hedge Capital Fund back in 2007. This hedge fund actually provided the basis for what Exante is today.
Exante was caught due to the fact that they did not trade the funds intelligently. According to the complaint made by the SEC, “Exante and Global Hedge frequently made illicit trades in the same securities, on the same days and around the same time, and often through the same IP addresses,” It should be noted that three of the 5 directors have an address in Malta.
Exante Responds To The Claims
Exante, however, has fought back against these allegations, claiming that they are vehemently such illegal trading practices. They are planning on fighting the SEC allegations tooth and nail to prove their innocence. They have stated in a press release:
They also fought back against the claims that Exante is a hedge fund. Exante feels as if the charge filed against them completely misrepresents their company, and how they function, and also are quoted stating:
The company also claimed that they were in direct contact with numerous authorities, including the MFSA, also known as the Malta Financial Services Authority. “We have no doubt in time we will be proven to have acted in an appropriate manner and await the factual results.”
Update To The Charges
However, a few months later, in 2016, the charges against Exante have been cleared by the SEC. Although that has not stopped many of their customers from being charged anyways. 9 of their brokerage customers and settlements have been charged. This has not stopped many of the insiders from the company to be charged, instead of Exante themselves.
There may even be more in the future, as the aforementioned hackers are believed to have transmitted the insider information to various traders in Ukraine, Cyprus, Malta, France, Russia, and even three US states. Nearly a dozen individuals and companies have been named in the new charges. The SEC claims that they violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 also Rule 10b-5 and section 17a of the Securities Act of 1933.
The SEC is attempting, with the charges, to seek the return of the ill-gotten gains, with interest attached. Meaning that the people charged will be paying far more than the money that they initially earned. This will effectively help the economy in the long run.
Exante made a statement afterward, claiming how they will continue to work hard to make sure that their clients are safe and secure.
It is only a matter of time before we see the outcome of this case.
Warren Buffett explains how taxes and Wall Street greed and executive ego help him get rich
In this text Warren Buffett explains how taxes, Wall Street greed, and executive ego help him get rich.
Berkshire Hathaway shareholders get yearly message from Warren Buffet. This year’s brings the insight into the possibilities to get rich from tax code, harshness of the Wall Street, and humans’ weakness.
“At Berkshire, we can — without incurring taxes or much in the way of other costs — move huge sums from businesses that have limited opportunities for incremental investment to other sectors with greater promise. Moreover, we are free of historical biases created by lifelong association with a given industry and are not subject to pressures from colleagues having a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. That’s important: If horses had controlled investment decisions, there would have been no auto industry.”
Basically, he is saying that shifting money from profitable businesses to the promising ones makes money. For example, coal brings money, but solar power has more potential for growth. Financial markets do that shifting. Buffet explains what to do to avoid losing extra money.
Profitable companies make money, gain profit and share dividends to shareholders. But, shareholders have to pay taxes for those dividends. Now, if a company has diverse businesses, it can shift money from their profitable business to the promising one and thus avoid paying taxable dividends.
Buffet advocates the rule of rich people paying more taxes on their dividend and capital income, which affects him as well, but is good for his business.
Wall Street and basically every other intermediate that deals with people’s money will always be something that money holders don’t appraise. Bankers’ services, hedge fund managers, mutual funds – it all costs. Sometimes the people who allocate money end up with more money than people whose money is being allocated.
A pronoun says:
“If you are a librarian; your room is full of books, if you are a carpenter; your room is full of tools, if you are money manager, your room is full of money.”
Warren Buffet suggests finding strategies to allocate money to different operations without the middleman.
Overcoming ego is the key to success in every aspect of life, and the life as a whole itself. When profitable companies look for places to invest, they tend to look for familiar grounds. A technology company spreads its business into more technology, but hardly will spread to economic branch, or turn to energy industry. Buffet suggests investing in a whole range of businesses.
Swiss Franc rise – Why did some forex brokers become insolvent ?
We received a lot of questions about Swiss market in January. One of the most important questions was: Why did some forex brokers become insolvent ?
A shocking decision by Swiss Bank to unlock the currency price made in just Franc to rise about forty percent a few minutes. Many Forex brokers became insolvent because they didn’t have enough capital in order to overtop the situation, especially because it happened so suddenly.
Margin calls were issued to investors without enough Swiss Franc as soon as the SNB announced their decision. When everything is going on as usual, the brokerage may exit ongoing trades whenever they want to. But in special circumstance, brokers didn’t have time to exit the trade after their clients issued margin calls. That is what made currency brokers lose.
Most of brokers have their liquidity covered by having money in banks in equal amounts as at clients’ funds.
But it showed that having equal amounts of money with clients and at the bank wasn’t sufficient in order to survive a situation like this. It showed that those brokers who had at least 2:1 ratio made it through, and the higher the ratio in favor of bank account – the higher chance to pull through the crisis.
Markets.com Became one of Sponsors of Arsenal FC
Another company that got opportunity to raise the level of their business is markets.com, as they plan to progress in this year. Markets.com became one of sponsors of Arsenal FC which broadened their brand to a wider audience. This year’s activities will be welcomed by customers of binary options trade, as new application will be offered to mobile devices for options trading. Markets.com are releasing “OnlyOption”, new favorite brand for binary trading besides TopOption.
Above you can see new creative banner and promotion : Markets.com is Football club Arsenal sponsor.
Etoro will focus on stocks and mobile trading
eToro has had a wonderful year and a strong conclusion as they had 27million USD invested from investors Russia and China. This year should be different from 2014 as the focus won’t be stocks and mobile trading, but rather global growth should be the main focus.
Focusing on mobile trading has seen 60% of traders were using mobile application and 70% of them had open stock positions.
eToro has seen major growth in 2014 as well; compared to 2013 they had four times more of value. If the plan gets to be reached in 2015, next year will see a new Open Book trading platform.
Also, this year is going to see rise in minimum depositing amounts. For clients from Germany, the minimum changed to 200USD instead of 50 that has been the minimum until now.
Etoro will be in the future the largest social trading network. Using mobile phones, traders will have chance to earn money as investors (copying trades from trading experts).Good luck !
Swiss franc is “black swan” situation – brokers lost money in January 2015
It is agreed generally that nowadays business in industry is going through some unusual times. After the Swiss Bank made their moves, many countries saw earth shaking. Banks giving allowances to people in Swiss currency now being sued worldwide, people paying back with high rates, and brokers losing huge amounts of money are today’s news not only in financial related articles.
Since the Swiss franc’s instigation the situation became good for loan takers who agreed to take loans in Swiss franc. But now, after the rate cap for the exchange has been removed, the situation is not so good.
But hard times are seen most clearly in the world of brokerage industry. It is known and estimated from different sources that the loss surpassed one billion dollars in brokerage industry.
FXCM lost 200 million dollars.Sources from Dow Jones revealed that the Barclay’s bank had lost millions of dollars, and Deutsche Bank’s losses were greater than a hundred million dollars. Interactive Brokers revealed that their loss were close to 120 million dollars. The problem with Forex brokers, who seemingly didn’t lose much in comparison with others, is that the profits are not matching to the losses due to clients going away.
Some brokers didn’t have the option in their contracts to cover clients’ negative balance. Furthermore, problems are seen in unclear future of liquidity providers as they are not sure if there are going to be any funds to collect. All the fear is being pressured by rumors related to the situation with the hedge funds.
Losses are going to be seen by Forex companies that had partnership in collateral with companies that are about to face insolvency because regulatory agencies do not protect the funds and they are not in other accounts.
The way to survive the Swiss franc price change was to have good risk policy and reduced leverage on Euro/Swiss franc till level of 1:10.
Ed Eger, from OANDA, speaking about the “black swan” situation with the Swiss franc, said that their company took care of their clients and that nothing interfered in business going as smoothly as it always goes. He made sure that a good company is ready to run even in the hardest times, and that the situation made them even stronger, as they proved to be able to execute their work regularly in such situation.
The CEO at CFH Clearing, Lars Holst said that systems were all automated and solutions for risk at the market. He also stated that the events from Black Swan Thursday will mean a great deal for the industry and it should be taken as a reminder of how a major currency as Swiss franc is can move.
President of FX Primus, Terry Thompson also stated that heir protocols for managing risk helped the situation to be bypassed without suffering many other brokers had to go through.
JFD didn’t feel any disturbance in the business neither, as their Capital Adequacy Ratio has been set safely above the minimum. The only thing that was a sign of some “abnormal” activities at the market was 0.3% of clients saw negative balances.
Iron FX released a statement about the extraordinary situation in which no affection took place on their clients. The system they installed proved to have been working fine.
GKFX said that 25million USD invested in IT will see the benefits as it is going to improve the system more. The company said in a statement that they are “planning on capitalisation on its strong balance sheet, global reach, and extensive product offering“
The director of trading at OFM, Andrew Henderson said that events from Black Swan shall confirm the stability of the company.
Markets.com stated that they are “pleased to announce that this extreme volatility didn’t impact the firm’s strong financial position. Thanks to the company’s robust risk management policies, the Company enjoyed a profitable trading day in yesterday’s session and didn’t have any negative impact from the Swiss Franc’s extreme volatility.”
Dimitry Laush, the CEO at Admiral Markets said that the surprising turn in policy of SNB (Swiss National Bank) might result in difficulties with Forex brokers. He said that Admiral Markets were affected by the „blck swan“ Thursday situation, but that the company has the regulation plan and will move on with all the services that they have been offering.
Sensus Capital Markets weren’t affected by the sudden twist in CHF value, but some minimal losses were apparent. Very strong capital was strong enough to fully absorb the losses and the company will continue to work as before, and – after dealing with this situation as smooth as the did – probably better.
Minimal losses were seen by the Advanced Markets, because the disturbance at the market was dealt with prepared system. Anthony Brocco, Executive Chairman, Advanced Markets Ltd. said: “We came through this period of unprecedented volatility cleanly and we’re on very solid ground and expect zero or minimal client losses.”