Japanese FX broker Monex Group Inc announced its global FX volumes for July, which indicated that volumes fell 7.9 percent compared to June. The July’s trading figures, at $29.0 billion, was the sixth straight month of decline.
However, the news weren’t unexpected given the low yen trading volumes in the month. The USD/JPY is the most actively traded pair in Japan, though the volumes fell to around 180 pips in July. Monex’s OTC FX unit saw volumes fall 18 percent to 53.8 billion yen ($524.6 million) per day. Any material recovery in the trading volumes isn’t expected until September as the summer progresses.
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Meanwhile, ICAP’s electronic brokerage business EBS reported that July’s FX trading volumes fell 8 percent to $70.6 billion compared to $77 billion in June. The trading volumes were the second-lowest after April’s figures.  A few weeks ago, ICAP was reported to be mulling a shake-up of EBS management in order to inject fresh blood to help the company compete against ECN FXall, which is owned by Thomson Reuters.
In another report, retail FX brokerage Liquid Markets has moved to London and renounced its CySec license just two months after it obtained the Financial Conduct Authority license. Though moving to London is very costly for retail FX firms, Liquid Markets appears to consider the extra costs as worth it after scaling its initial growth stages in Cyprus.
Over the years, Cyprus attracted various companies seeking to benefit from low corporation tax and quick registration procedure. However, the allure of rapid expansion has attracted Cypriot FX brokers to shift operations to London in order to attract clients from Asia Pacific, Middle East and Russia, where clients trust the British regulatory system more. To register for a free 2-week subscription to ForexMinute Premium Plan, visit www.forexminute.com/newsletter.
To contact the reporter of this story; Yashu Gola at yashu@forexminute.com
