I received the following email from FXCM this afternoon which is indeed good news in that FXCM has made so many positive changes over the last year. Going to un-marked up spreads and a commission structured price model has made them very transparent.
If you think about how many regulatory bodies FXCM needs to make Happy it was definitely in need of a lifeline to right their books.
"Dear Client,
FXCM Client Accounts Secure – Raises $300 Million in Capital
FXCM previously announced that due to unprecedented volatility in the EUR/CHF pair after the Swiss National Bank announcement of January 15, 2015, clients experienced significant losses and generated negative equity balances owed to FXCM.
To ensure the full financial stability of ALL client accounts, and FXCM, TODAY we have announced that Leucadia National Corporation will provide $300 Million in financing capital to FXCM Holdings LLC.
Normal trading and operations will continue for all of its customers.
The net proceeds will be used to replace capital in FXCM regulated entities.
FXCM will continue to be one of the largest forex brokers globally.
With the investment of the new capital, the Company has returned the regulatory capital it maintained prior to the losses client suffered as a result of the historic movement of the Swiss Franc early Thursday morning.
The company is in compliance with all the regulatory capital requirements in all of its jurisdictions. "
So FXCM was able to secure themselves with a influx of 300 million. This took 36 hours and was reported on CNBC last evening.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102343957#.
CNBC stated in their article that ...
"As recently as last January, the European Central Bank ranked FXCM as the world's third-largest retail foreign exchange broker."
Leucadia is sometimes referred to as a "baby Berkshire Hathaway" because of the diversity of its holdings. This is a solid investment by a prestigious Holding Company. The sweetener in the deal for Leucadia is if FXCM would sell the company Leucadia would receive 75 percent of all the profits.
Cheers,
Doug