It has been a busy year for Global Kapital Group, which entered the US broker-dealer market in June with GK Trade New York, after the acquisition of Finra-licenced Equinox Group Distributors, and then acquired Turkish multi-asset broker Işık Menkul in August.
However, its most notable deal from an FX perspective was its acquisition of Australian brokerage FairMarkets in February.
Brokerage revenues rose by 140% last year, putting Global Kapital in the same league as the likes of eToro and Swissquote. This was a substantial result for a business that still derives around 90% of its revenues from brokerage, despite developing businesses in several other areas, including micro lending and venture capital.
Retail FX clients are not going away, but there is more opportunity in listed products
Speaking to Euromoney, Engin Çubukçu, chairman of Global Kapital Group’s brokerage division, set out the company’s ambitions beyond the FX market and its strategy for geographical expansion.
“Until last year, we were 100% focused on our FX business, but our new strategy is multi-asset,” he says. “We have acquired some entities that are already multi-asset brokers and we will be launching a platform that will enable people to trade listed products such as stocks, futures, options and ETFs [exchange-traded funds].”
FairMarkets
