Jan Byrski appointed as chairman of XTB Supervisory Board
Warsaw-based X Trade Brokers Dom Maklerski SA (WSE:XTB) has made changes to its management and board. The publicly listed Polish FX brokerage today selected Jan Byrski to head its supervisory board, with effect from November 22.
Per a regulatory filing, Jan Byrski has extensive knowledge in FinTech, payment, banking and insurance industries. He served in many advisory and executive roles with the President of the National Bank of Poland, President of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, Inspector General for Personal Data Protection, and administrative courts. Byrski also provides legal advice to companies and financial institutions operating on the Polish and international markets.
XTB statement says that Jan Byrski Jakub was appointed by a decision of Jakub Zabłocki. Mr. Zabłocki is the co-founder of XTB, which operates the XTB.com retail forex brokerage and X Open Hub platform. Since inception in 2003, he held the role of chief executive officer for 10 years until he resigned in 2012. He returned as CEO in 2014 then decided to dismiss his position back in 2017.
Jakub Zablocki was also appointed temporary chairman of supervisory board of the company. At the time, the founder altered its management board as former CEO Jakub Malý departed. After a shakeup at the top executive level of the brokerage, the company selected Omar Arnaout as its CEO in April 2017.
XTB reported last month its final results for Q3 2021, which showed improved metrics after seeing revenues and customer numbers fall back in the previous quarter from the heights of Q1 as the pandemic trading boom fizzled out.
In the three months to September 30, XRB revenue was reported at PLN 196.5 million ($49.18 million), up 41 percent from PLN 139.6 million in the same period a year ago. During Q2 of 2021, XTB disclosed a total operating revenue of PLN 55.1 million ($14.3 million), which dropped against the PLN 188 million it reported in the first quarter.
We last reported on XTB earlier this month after the broker was hit with a €300,000 penalty to settle charges brought up by France’s regulator over a string of compliance breaches.
XTB’s French subsidiary was accused of publishing misleading adverts and failing to carry out proper due diligence on new clients.
During a review of XTB’s compliance between November 2013 and February 2020, the AMF found that X-Trade Brokers had breached its restrictions on selling contracts for difference (CFDs) to retail clients. The watchdog added that the broker hadn’t put appropriate risk warnings on its website, seemingly tweaked some of the wording used in its marketing materials.
France’s mega regulator also said it found that XTB France did not carry out the proper procedures when evaluating the level of knowledge and expertise of new clients. Lastly, the broker was fined for not informing its clients about a technical glitch on its platform that resulted in a “material difficulty” to handle their trading orders.
