CMC Markets says ANZ Bank partnership on track, regulation remains in focus
The company retains its focus on new regulatory requirements, whereas its partnership with ANZ Bank continues to progress and its profitability in the first half of the financial year to end-March 2018 exceeds that from the same period in the preceding year.
Leading online financial trading company CMC Markets Plc (LON:CMCX) has just posted an update for the first half of the financial year to March 31, 2018, indicating increased profits, continued development of institutional partnerships and retained focus on regulatory challenges.
CMC Markets continues the implementation of its stockbroking partnership with ANZ Bank in Australia, which remains on track for delivery next year. Under the terms of the deal, after a transition period, CMC is set to service more than 500,000 ANZ retail stockbroking clients under the ANZ Share Investing (ANZSI) brand. During the transition period, CMC will collaborate with ANZ to provide full integration of the platform with ANZ’s product offering, including margin lending, Internet banking and integrated Grow app.
Regulation is still a key focus for the firm, CMC said in today’s update. The firm stroke a cautious note about any impact any regulatory changes may have on its business, which is a normal announcement to make, given that the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has not yet announced its new rules for retail CFD providers.
For the time being, CMC’s performance is solid. Profitability in the first half of the current financial year is significantly higher than in the same period in 2017 with both net operating income and revenue per client higher (and marginally higher than H2 2017), on the back of increased client volumes. The strong increase in net operating income in the first six months of the financial year to March 31, 2018 in the face of the small decline in active clients reaffirms the firm’s continuing focus on high-value, experienced clients.
CMC’s latest statement is in line with the comments made by Richard Elston, Head of Institutional at CMC Markets, at the FinanceFeeds London Cup in July this year. Mr Elston said that over the past 12 months, CMC Markets had faced some challenges, including regulatory ones.
“We have the ability to be flexible when these challenges come along, especially in a white-label environment where we have to be able to adapt the technology in line with regulatory demands”, Richard Elston, Head of Institutional, CMC Markets.
