FX week in review: ADSS and Saxo execs leave, Nukkleus SPAC IPO, Admirals fined, FX/CFD broker shares drop

This week’s FX industry news was dominated by executive moves involving many of the known brands in Retail FX, Institutional FX, and tech providers to the sector with Equiti, Exness, CFI, OANDA, GKPro, Spotware and T4B all making additions to their lineups. Two brokers which have seen a number of senior level departures of late, ADSS and Saxo Bank, continued along those lines. More details follow, with all the moves covered this past week exclusively or first at FNG!

But there was lots more.

Why did Admirals operator Admiral Markets AS receive a misdemeanor decision and fine from the Estonian regulator?

At what valuation is FXDD and Forexware parent Nukkleus Inc planning to go public, via a SPAC merger?

Which Retail FX brokers got hit hard (their shares prices, that is) as equity markets fluctuated this week due to the unfolding events in Ukraine?

Answers to these questions, and a whole lot more, appeared first or exclusively this past week at FNG. Some of the most read and commented-on FX industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:

Exclusive: ADSS exec departures continue – Jo Page (CFO) and Kevin Ball (HR head). FNG Exclusive… Following our previous coverage of a number of senior management resignations at UAE based Retail FX and CFDs brokerage group ADSS (more details below) over the past year or so, FNG has learned that a number of the recent additions to the ADSS team to replace those departed execs have now left themselves. Exiting ADSS is London based Group CFO Joanne Page (pictured above), who just joined ADSS in August of 2021, replacing the group’s former CFO Trevor Beagrie. Jo Page had joined ADSS after spending three years as CFO of Saxo Bank UK from 2018-2021. She had also previously worked at Capital Index, ETX Capital, and City Index, in senior financial and operating roles. Also leaving ADSS after a very short tenure is Kevin Ball, brought in less than a year ago as Chief Human Resources Officer.

Retail FX broker shares hit hard by market turmoil: NAGA.com -15%, Swissquote -5%. FNG Exclusive Analysis… Shares of a number of publicly traded Retail FX and CFD brokerage firms are taking a beating, as financial markets have been set off by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While equity markets globally are taking a hit today – DAX is down 5%, FTSE -3%, CAC -5%, and US equity futures are pointing to a 2-3% drop in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ indices – a number of Retail FX firms have reacted especially harshly, even after more recent sharp declines in their valuations. Hardest hit in the group has been NAGA Group AG (ETR:N4G), operator of the CySEC licensed NAGA.com brand, which is seeing its share price drop by 15% down to €4.25, less than half its 52-week high set in November 2021 and close to its 52-week low from last April. Also taking a beating are shares of Swissquote (SWX:SQN).

Admiral Markets gets misdemeanour decision from Estonia regulator, pays €20K fine. Admiral Markets AS, the Estonia based Retail FX and CFDs brokerage group with operates the Admirals brand, has issued a statement regarding the decision of Estonia financial regulator Finantsinspektsioon t0 fine the company regarding the reporting of client trades. The Estonian Financial Supervision Authority has forwarded a misdemeanor decision to Admiral Markets AS, according to which the company has violated the Securities Market Act and Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EMIR) and a fine of twenty thousand euros has been imposed. According to Admiral Markets AS, the company has made every effort to comply with the reporting obligations. This is the second run-in Admirals has had recently with the Estonian regulator.

Nukkleus to combine with Brilliant Acquisition Corp. Nukkleus, Inc, formerly known as Compliance & Risk Management Solutions Inc, today announced the signing of a merger agreement for a proposed business combination with Brilliant Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:BRLI), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) formed in the British Virgin Islands. The transaction values Nukkleus at an enterprise value of approximately $140 million. Under the terms of the merger agreement with Brilliant, a newly formed British Virgin Islands company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nukkleus will merge with and into Brilliant, with Brilliant surviving the Merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Nukkleus. Nukkleus, as the parent company of Brilliant, will issue common stock to the shareholders of Brilliant.