Georges Cohen buys 5% stake in SquaredFinancial

abdelaziz Fathi

Georges Cohen has acquired a 5 percent stake in SquaredFinancial, the CySEC-regulated broker he co-founded in 2005 alongside former ADSS CEO Philippe Ghanem.

The French businessman, whose net wealth is estimated at $500 million, kicked off his career in 1970 when he joined Cap Gemini. He left in 1990 to launch multinational IT services company Transiciel, one of France’s fastest-growing information technology consulting groups.

In 1998, Transiciel went public on the Paris Stock Exchange, but Cohen continued to hold more than two-thirds of the company’s stock.

Philippe Ghanem, founder and executive chairman of Squared Financial, said: “We are in a new phase of execution as our scale and size are being driven by demand. Georges wanted to return to the fold as he shares our vision. Our trajectory of increasing capital means we have the funds to acquire technology and continue to attract the best talent, and, as in this case, returning talent. Georges brings with him a wealth of expertise in capital markets and companies listing which we have always been clear that we aim to do.”

Georges Cohen added: “When Philippe and I founded this company in 2005, we wanted to build the financial institution of the future. Our vision is now a reality, and I want to continue to be a catalyst for success by funding further technology capability. Traders want a timely, personalised, accessible platform, and we are well capitalised to meet future demand.”

SquaredFinancial sees thousands of clients trading every day on its platform. The FinTech allows customers to trade the world’s most popular markets with seven different asset classes and more than 20,000 trading instruments.

SquaredFinancial rebranded in 2018 from its previous tradename, ProbusFX, a Cyprus based financial services provider that was founded in 2017 and soon received its license from the Cyprus regulator. The move came as part of their pairing up with sister company, Squared Financial Services Limited, now trading as SquaredPro to form the Squared Financial Group.

Additionally, the legal name of the company has been changed from Aspide Financial Limited to Squared Financial (CY) Limited.

In 2020, the company appointed Husam Al Kurdi to the role of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), replacing Youssef Barakat, who has been with the CySEC-regulated broker since 2009.

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