Eurotrade sets up South Africa subsidiary, announces new hires
CySEC-regulated broker Eurotrade has unveiled a new South African-licensed entity in a bid expand its brokerage business in Africa, or possibly to offset the impact of sluggish economic conditions and regulatory restrictions in its core markets.
Interestingly though, Eurotrade’s licence was issued in 2012 under FSP No 44351 and registration number 2017/223774/07. According to information available on South African regulator’s register, the approval allows the privately-held firm to act as an OTC derivative provider and therefore is permitted, under regular features of its business, to originate, issue, sell or make a market in OTC derivatives.
Commenting on the news, Sergei Grigoriev, Eurotrader’s executive director said: “Eurotrader’s focus is to accommodate the needs of individual traders as well as those looking to explore copy trading or account management systems. In addition to offering the industry lowest forex spreads, Eurotrader clients will have the opportunity to trade on shares and futures on the world’s leading exchanges. Having direct market access to such products will enable our clients to invest in publicly listed companies.”
Founded in 2015, Eurotrader is a forex brokerage firm owned by Eurotrade Investments RGB Ltd., which is headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus, and licensed to provide online trading products and services.
Part of a rebranding process, the company has also acquired new domains: eurotrader.com, and eurotrader.eu for the CySEC-regulated entity. Furthermore, the company has lured two industry veterans to expand its senior leadership team.
Eurotrader has appointed Patrick Murphy, who until recently was Head of Consumer Compliance at payment giant Paysafe as Head of Global Compliance. It has also named Nick Whitehead (formerly Head of Digital Product – Investments & Wealth at Barclays) as Head of Product.
Forex brokers in South Africa are overseen by the financial sector conduct authority, FSCA, which approves the platforms that can operate within the jurisdiction. The powerful watchdog handles the issuance of licenses and can sanction companies that violate guidelines of the nation’s dual regulation system.
South Africa enjoys a strong and well-organized financial market and therefore has become a popular destination for brokers looking to expand. It is one of the world’s top ten capital markets and boasts thousands of investors. The country itself is a diverse market that is largely devoid of the market saturation seen in other jurisdictions such as Europe.
