The chief executive of collapsed brokerage Sonray Capital Markets, Scott Murray, was arrested in Melbourne, a source said, and was expected to appear in the Professional Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this afternoon on 10 charges. The company’s collapse in June of last year was investigated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the charges laid by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Mr Murray was one of two founders of Sonray, which is understood to owe more than $47 million to some 4596 clients including BT Australia founder Chris Corrigan, who is seeking $6.9m in a legal action he recently launched. Sonray offered its clients a sophisticated software platform through which they could trade equities, contracts for difference (CFDs), exchange rates, futures and options. The company’s auditor, HLB Mann Judd, is one of several parties that may be brought in to mediation to help recover the lost clients’ funds, according to a recent letter sent to creditors by liquidator Ferrier Hodgson.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/city-beat/sonray-capital-markets-chief-scott-murray-arrested-source/story-fn4xq4zx-1226010122305
Filed under: CFD News by LearnCFDs.com
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Contracts for difference will be centrally cleared for the first time ever this week through an agreement between LCH.Clearnet, Europe’s largest clearinghouse, and multilateral trading facility Chi-X Europe.
The move, say LCH.Clearnet and Chi-X Europe, supports the goal of regulators to increase central clearing in OTC trades. The service will begin with the most liquid U.K. stocks. Traders in the over -the-counter market will send transactions for confirmation to London-based Chi-X Europe, which will pass them on to LCH.Clearnet for final clearing in its EquityClear service. Currently, CFDs are cleared bilaterally between executing brokers and prime brokers. CFDs allow investors to bet on shares or other assets without owning them. The securities are traded off-exchange and investors use the underlying stock to hedge their positions. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have been pushing for more OTC contracts to be centrally cleared e cleared amid criticism of opaque financial products and excessive risk-taking in the wake of the financial crisis. Clearinghouses typically act as central counterparties to every buy and sell order thereby reducing the potential for a counterparty to either default on its obligation or go bust.
“In the same way as Chi-X Europe launched its cash equities market ahead of MIFiD’s transformation of the trading landscape, we hope centrally cleared CFDs will help address the European Commission’s aim of bringing more OTC trades on-exchange ahead of any regulatory imperative,” says Alasdair aynes, chief executive officer of Chi-X Europe in a statement issued by LCH. Clearnet and Chi-X Europe on Monday. “This is an exciting new opportunity for us to expand our business into new areas.”
http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/CFD-clearnet-chi-x-europe-26753-1.html
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CFD trading company, IG Markets has been judged Best CFD Provider for 2010 in Money magazine’s Best of the Best award. Money magazine used research by Investment Trends and CANSTAR CANNEX, and selected IG Markets on the basis of costs and features. In judging, Money magazine placed emphasis on choosing a CFD provider that offered guaranteed stop losses, an effective trading tool to help limit risk. Other features highly regarded by CFD traders (as surveyed by Investment Trends) were considered, including low transaction fees and access to a Direct Market Access (DMA) platform. Other strengths of IG Markets highlighted by Money magazine included: Guaranteed market prices regardless of CFD trading model; PureDeal and PureDMA products provide flexibility of both trading models, DMA and Market Maker; Fully customisable trading platform with low entry levels for traders to start (no minimum balance for PureDeal); ASX live data fees are rebated if four or more trades per month are completed on any market.
Mr Tamas Szabo, IG Markets Australia Chief Executive Officer, says “We have a clear focus on value for money, transparent pricing and the reliability of our browser-based dealing platform, regardless of the trading model you choose.” The accolade adds to the recent trend of awards IG Markets has scooped such as the CANSTAR CANNEX Five Star Rating for Outstanding Value CFD Provider and the Investment Trends research that recognised IG Markets as Australia’s number one CFD provider.
IG Markets specialises in financial derivatives, principally Contracts for Difference (CFDs) on over 7,000 global share CFDs, along with indices, forex trading, commodities, options, binaries and more. IG Markets is part of the IG Group, a UK FTSE 250 member with over 75,000 active clients worldwide.
http://a3link.co.cc/ig-markets-best-cfd-provider-in-money-magazines-best-of-the-best-awards/
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Clients of CFD trading company IC Markets are the first to benefit from the company’s new commission structure, clients are expected to save millions this year thanks to the company’s new tiered direct market access (DMA) CFD commission rates on the webIRESS Plus trading platform. An active CFD trader trades on average four times a day with a trade size of approximately $20,000. Most DMA CFD providers would charge this trader 0.10% commission on a $20,000 transaction. Over the year this trader would pay over $40,000 in commission charges alone. With IC Markets new active trader tiered commission rate of 0.05% this trader would only pay around $20,000 in commission, a 50% saving without even considering the saving in financing charges. With IC Markets tiered commission rates active traders on 0.03% commission can save as much as 70%.
International Capital Markets (IC Markets) Managing Director Andrew Budzinski said: “We understand commission rates are important to active CFD traders and we are committed to providing our clients with low DMA CFD commissions and the latest trading technology.” IC Markets new webIRESS Plus platform allows its clients to trade DMA CFDs on global exchanges as well as ASX listed shares. “IC Markets is committed to offering low commission rates allowing our clients to take of advantage of more trading opportunities and gain an edge in the market. Our new tiered commission structure on the webIRESS Plus platform reflects our commitment to provide industry leading software and excellent value for money cementing our position as a market leader in DMA CFDs,” Mr Budzinski said.
Active trading clients of IC Markets are given priority access to highly sought after Initial Public Offerings (IPO’s) in addition to a wider range of short-sellable CFDs. Contracts for Difference (CFDs) are an agreement to exchange the difference in value of a particular asset between the time at which the contract is opened and the time at which it is closed.
Filed under: CFD News by LearnCFDs.com
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London Multi-Asset Exchange Limited (LMAX), has announced that they now have the ability to trade contracts for difference. After receiving FSA approval, plans are already in place to initiate their MTF platform, which is a multilateral financial trading facility. Betfair, who is one of the top online leading global betting companies, is the majority shareholder of LMAX, and the company was established by Betfair back in 2007 aimed at providing financial and Forex trading services. There seems to be a lot of movement lately in terms of investment into the CFD market, where many brokers and financial services companies are starting to offer CFDs. If Betfair’s new venture is as successful as their betting exchange, LMAX should could be an emerging financial company for investors to look out for.
http://www.mydeltaquest.com/2010/cfd-exchange-launched-betfairs-lmax/
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The founders of the collapsed contracts for difference provider Sonray Capital Markets withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars from client accounts and put the money into their own accounts using a complex system to conceal the transactions, a public examination heard yesterday.
The co-founder Scott Murray said he used multiple ”house” and unfunded accounts in various names, including at least one client’s name, in an effort to make successful trades and recover amounts that had been transferred out of the clients’ pooled account. Mr Murray was being examined as part of Ferrier Hodgson’s investigation into the firm’s collapse, which left a $46.7 million hole in investors’ trading accounts.
Sonray also directly paid the mortgage repayments on a holiday home in Sorrento, Victoria, that was owned by the other founder, Russell Johnson. The home doubled as a disaster recovery residence for Sonray as it had a computer on the premises that had access to the trading platform.
The examination of Mr Murray, the chief executive of Sonray, in the Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne, heard that clients’ money was withdrawn from a segregated account and lent to his father, John Murray. The two loans, one for $100,000 and another for $300,000 were at no interest.
The examination heard that money was also transferred from client segregated accounts to pay creditors relating to the building of a wholesale trading platform. Funds were then withdrawn and deposited into his bank account to pay his home mortgage. Mr Johnson used an estimated $550,000 for his own personal purposes, it was alleged.
Mr Murray rejected the allegation that the transfer of money was concealed. He said in the early days of Sonray being set up he was paid little in the way of salary. Sonray, which Mr Johnson and Mr Murray founded in 2003, went into external administration on June 22, after a bailout attempt by Saxo Bank fell through.
Mr Murray has since given an undertaking to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that he would not leave Australia without consent, and Mr Johnson has surrendered his passport. Mr Murray said there had been deficiencies in client accounts for years and that Saxo Bank was aware that hedging was being done in house accounts in mid to late 2008.
Filed under: CFD News by LearnCFDs.com
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Leading online financial products trading company AvaFX has established an office in Paris as part of it’s strategy to provide the best quality service and support to its growing French customer base. “Since online CFD and forex trading is relatively new in France, many traders have been waiting for an opportunity to learn and gain more expertise. Our seminars and conferences are a great opportunity for French customers to acquire knowledge and discuss their strategies.”
French traders will now be able to receive local support and enjoy the whole suite of Ava’s services including a wide variety of complimentary seminars and conferences on CFD and FX trading in the new Paris office.
Manager of the new Paris Office Florent Le Manach, noted that “since online CFD and forex trading is relatively new in France, many traders have been waiting for an opportunity to learn and gain more expertise. Our seminars and conferences are a great opportunity for French customers to acquire knowledge and discuss their strategies.”
AvaFX CEO, Emanuel Kronitz commented that “this new office comes quickly after our acquisition of a regulated online Japanese FX trading company. This highlights the success of our strategy to continue our impressive growth through global expansion, organic marketing, and selective acquisitions within key target markets”.
The new French office is part of AVA CAPITAL MARKETS LTD., the European arm of the AvaFX Group, an Irish regulated CFD trading broker offering one-click FX, commodities, indices, stocks, and bonds trading. Since starting four years ago, AvaFX has become one of the fastest growing forex & CFD trading companies.
Through its client oriented approach AvaFX has gained over 50,000 clients globally and trading more than $40 billion per month. AvaFX provides multiple trading platforms for he beginner and expert trader. Expert data and analysis is provided by the company in order to better assist clients to trade more effectively and profitably. AvaFx’s success can be attributed to their customer focused approach which has seen the company win many awards in the past twelve months including the Daily Forex customer service award.
CFDs In France
Filed under: CFD News by CFDTradingStrategy
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Financial betting operator London Capital yesterday downplayed the impact of Betfair’s nascent CFD trading platform, insisting it would not affect their core business.
London Capital’s chief executive Simon Denham stated that Betfair’s recently debuted LMAX platform would not hurt business as his company announced substantial revenue growth in the first half of 2010 courtesy of volatile financial markets.
Last month Betfair’s new platform, LMAX, was approved by the Financial Services Authority, which regulates financial services in the UK. LMAX is still being developed by Betfair and will specialise in contracts for difference (CFD) betting, operating apart from the betting exchange’s existing Tradefair spread betting product.
Unlike spread bets CFD’s are liable to capital gains tax in some cases. Denham, however, felt that it was worth commenting on the venture, which now has the backing of US banking giant Goldman Sachs, as part of London Capital’s interim report published yesterday. In addition, Denham argued that ever increasing regulatory and capital requirements make the success of new entrants to the financial betting market “increasingly unlikely”.
London Capital already plays host to Betfair’s spread betting offering, Tradefair, as part of its white-label business, which includes backend provision for companies such as Paddy Power and PartyGaming.
Financial betting has seen significant growth over recent years, assisted by world-wide market jitters, and on July 2 this year the UK’s market leader IG Group attained a higher capitalization value than the London Stock Exchange.
Despite contending that Betfair’s plans would not affect the company, London Capital said yesterday that it too would be launching a pair of CFD offerings.
Ongoing financial uncertainty has benefitted the company, with revenues leaping 61 percent year-on-year, from £12.9m in the prior-year period to £20.9m in the last six months.
Filed under: CFD News by CFDTradingStrategy
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Direct Sharedeal, the Glasgow-headquartered stockbroker that earlier this year was fined £101,500 for mis-selling penny shares, is abandoning the execution-only brokerage service on which it was founded, The Herald can reveal.
In a letter to its account holders, mailed this week, managing director Tom Bell said: “Following a review of the competitiveness of our existing product offering, it is with regret that the board of directors have taken the decision to no longer offer an advisory or execution stock broking service to private clients.”
Bell did not return calls for comments yesterday. However, an insider at the company, said: “We’re just pulling out of execution-only. The board has taken the decision to focus on the more profitable side of the business, such as CFDs and foreign exchange.”
Direct Sharedeal To Focus On CFDs
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Spreadbetting group WorldSpreads has announced full year profits up a massive 666 % from £350,000 to £2.7 million for the year to 31 March 2010. The average trades per day at WorldSpreads were up 41%, with 41%of all trades and 31 per cent of trading profit was recorded from outside of the UK. Revenue from continuing operations was up % to £11.4 million year on year, just weeks after the strategic tie-up with Ladbrokes was confirmed to provide its contracts for difference (CFD) service.
Conor Foley, chief executive officer at WorldSpreads, said the expansion into overseas markets has started well which has gone some way to protect the group from the economic volatility of the UK economy. He added, ‘The strategy for the current financial year is one of investment for long-term growth. ‘We sold our Irish financial spreadbetting division, we launched a new, proprietary trading platform, we moved to a new office in the City of London and we formed new key partnerships, including a revenue sharing arrangement with Ladbrokes.’ Foley said there remained a strong pipeline of new market opportunities, both in the UK and internationally and demand for the group’s financial spreadbetting product remains strong. He continued, ‘While market volatility has returned to normal long-run levels, the Group is favourably placed to grow both organically and also to benefit from any increased levels of market volatility that may materialise.
http://www.whatinvestment.co.uk/making-money/share-dealing/news/1264663/worldspreads-declares-4100-new-clients-as-profits-surge.thtml
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