IG CEO made $4.5M in FY25
This week’s recap highlights interesting figures in executive
pay in the CFD brokerage sector. IG Group CEO Breon Corcoran became the second-highest-paid chief among London-listed CFD brokers in fiscal 2025,
earning about £3.35 million ($4.46 million).
Comparatively, Plus500 CEO David Zruia topped the list with
$4.97 million, while CMC Markets’ Lord Peter Cruddas received £1.1 million
($1.5 million).
Despite Cruddas’ comparatively lower salary, his nearly 60%
ownership in CMC Markets brought him around £14.5 million ($19.68 million) in
dividends last year.
Plus500 customer deposits jump over 100%
At the same time, Plus500 delivered solid first-half results, with revenue rising 4% year-on-year to $415.1 million despite
challenging market conditions. Net profit inched up to $149.6 million from
$148.8 million.
The London-listed trading platform continued to
diversify beyond its core contracts-for-difference offering, while customer
deposits more than doubled to over $3 billion.
Meanwhile, nearly nine
out of ten contracts for differences trades at Plus500 were made on a
phone or tablet in the first half of 2025, accounting for 89% of the broker’s
OTC revenue. This was well above the industry average of 55.5% for Q2 2025.
Besides the numbers, the company is seeking a licence in Chile, having already established a local entity in the
country.The move followed its entry into the US retail futures
market and the recent acquisition of an OTC Canadian licence.
eToro revenue jumps
Still in a week dominated by earnings reports, eToro posted mixed results in its first earnings release as a public company. Net contribution rose 26% year-on-year in Q2
2025, while net income remained at about $30 million.
User assets grew to $17.5 billion and added 460,000 funded accounts during the quarter. Interesting, eToro shares fell 8.3% on Tuesday after the
Israeli trading platform posted mixed second-quarter results.
The decline was mainly driven by a near twofold drop in net
profit from the previous quarter and management guidance that weakened investor
sentiment.
Swissquote’s revenue and profits rise
Miles away, Swissquote ended the first half of 2025 with net revenue of CHF 358.2 million ($444.2 million) and a pre-tax profit of CHF 185.2
million ($229.6 million), marking year-on-year increases of 13% and 9.1%,
respectively.
Net profit came in at CHF 158.2 million ($196.2 million), up
9.4%. The company raised its full-year pre-tax profit forecast to CHF 365
million ($452.6 million) from CHF 355 million ($440.2 million) and increased
its revenue target to CHF 700 million from CHF 675 million.
MultiBank Group
MultiBank Group reported revenue of $209 million and profit of $170 million for the first half of 2025, a 20% increase in revenue compared
to the same period last year.
In April, the company set a single-day trading record by
processing $56 billion in transactions, supported by high client activity
across its global platforms.
More positive results from NAGA Group
Also this week, NAGA reported revenue of EUR32.2 million for the first half of 2025, up 2% from EUR 31.6 million a year
earlier. EBITDA increased 8% to EUR 3.0 million despite higher marketing
expenses.
The Hamburg-based company continued to invest in expanding
its “financial superapp” user base, maintaining the growth seen in 2024, when
it posted full-year revenue of EUR 62 million.
Regional banks bet on crypto
Beyond the financial reports, Paul Golden highlighted how crypto has moved further into the
financial mainstream in 2025, with a clearer regulatory environment encouraging
mid-tier and smaller US financial institutions to explore crypto offerings.
🇺🇸 Eric Trump says, “If the banks don’t watch what’s coming, they’re gonna be extinct in 10 years” if they don’t embrace #Bitcoin and crypto. pic.twitter.com/w42gZpgyxa
— Trending Bitcoin (@BitcoinNews21M) August 4, 2025
Surveys indicated that consumer confidence in regional banks
had recovered from the reputational damage caused by the collapses of First
Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank in 2023.
Executive moves of the week
In our executive roundup, B2C2, the crypto market maker
owned by Japanese conglomerate SBI, expanded its presence in Southeast Asia by
appointing Laura Teo as Singapore Country Head and Head of Sales, APAC.
Equiti Group reshuffled its top ranks, promoting Sartaj
Singh to Chief Technology Officer, Rick Fulton to Chief Risk and Audit Officer,
and Sean Hong to Chief Financial Officer.
Bitcoin, XRP, Ether price action
Early this week, Bitcoin rose 2.84% to $121,625, driven by
strong institutional demand and expectations of a favorable Federal Reserve
policy. The move brought the cryptocurrency close to its all-time high, with
analysts targeting the $140,000 level.
Ethereum price on Thursday. Source: CoinMarketCap
At the same time, XRP jumped 11% to above $3.25 after the dismissal of the Ripple-SEC settlement case. The second-largest crypto, ether, traded at $4,750 on Thursday, coming within 3% of its $4,865 all-time high set in late 2021.
Apex Financial takes 3% stake in CMC Markets
In the UK, Apex Group acquired a 3.07% stake in London-listed CFDs broker CMC Markets through its Jersey-based trust entity,
becoming one of the broker’s top shareholders.
Lord Cruddas, CMC’s founder and CEO, continued to hold over
59% of the company. The filing did not specify the cost, but the market value
of the shares on that date was around £21.66 million.
Hirose permanently ends retail CFD onboarding outside Japan
In our exclusive story, Hirose Financial stopped onboarding new retail clients under its UK- and Labuan-regulated entities. A Companies House filing showed that the UK entity planned to shift its focus to B2B market opportunities.
A notice on Hirose’s offshore website homepage
Hirose’s client registration pages for the UK and Labuan
entities stated that retail applications were permanently closed. However, another notice on a separate Hirose website, which
redirected potential clients to offshore platforms, described the suspension as
temporary.
Nvidia and AMD buy back China access
Away from the industry, after months of lost sales, the US allowed Nvidia and AMD to sell AI chips to China in exchange for a portion of
the revenue.
Nvidia and AMD had seen billions in potential revenue vanish
under the US ban on high-performance chip exports to China. Beijing subtly restricted the use of foreign AI hardware, a
move that could reshape the chip market and disadvantage Nvidia and AMD.
Chinese regulators told companies, including Alibaba and
ByteDance, to justify their orders of American-made AI chips, especially for
projects related to government or national security.
IG CEO made $4.5M in FY25
This week’s recap highlights interesting figures in executive
pay in the CFD brokerage sector. IG Group CEO Breon Corcoran became the second-highest-paid chief among London-listed CFD brokers in fiscal 2025,
earning about £3.35 million ($4.46 million).
Comparatively, Plus500 CEO David Zruia topped the list with
$4.97 million, while CMC Markets’ Lord Peter Cruddas received £1.1 million
($1.5 million).
Despite Cruddas’ comparatively lower salary, his nearly 60%
ownership in CMC Markets brought him around £14.5 million ($19.68 million) in
dividends last year.
Plus500 customer deposits jump over 100%
At the same time, Plus500 delivered solid first-half results, with revenue rising 4% year-on-year to $415.1 million despite
challenging market conditions. Net profit inched up to $149.6 million from
$148.8 million.
The London-listed trading platform continued to
diversify beyond its core contracts-for-difference offering, while customer
deposits more than doubled to over $3 billion.
Meanwhile, nearly nine
out of ten contracts for differences trades at Plus500 were made on a
phone or tablet in the first half of 2025, accounting for 89% of the broker’s
OTC revenue. This was well above the industry average of 55.5% for Q2 2025.
Besides the numbers, the company is seeking a licence in Chile, having already established a local entity in the
country.The move followed its entry into the US retail futures
market and the recent acquisition of an OTC Canadian licence.
eToro revenue jumps
Still in a week dominated by earnings reports, eToro posted mixed results in its first earnings release as a public company. Net contribution rose 26% year-on-year in Q2
2025, while net income remained at about $30 million.
User assets grew to $17.5 billion and added 460,000 funded accounts during the quarter. Interesting, eToro shares fell 8.3% on Tuesday after the
Israeli trading platform posted mixed second-quarter results.
The decline was mainly driven by a near twofold drop in net
profit from the previous quarter and management guidance that weakened investor
sentiment.
Swissquote’s revenue and profits rise
Miles away, Swissquote ended the first half of 2025 with net revenue of CHF 358.2 million ($444.2 million) and a pre-tax profit of CHF 185.2
million ($229.6 million), marking year-on-year increases of 13% and 9.1%,
respectively.
Net profit came in at CHF 158.2 million ($196.2 million), up
9.4%. The company raised its full-year pre-tax profit forecast to CHF 365
million ($452.6 million) from CHF 355 million ($440.2 million) and increased
its revenue target to CHF 700 million from CHF 675 million.
MultiBank Group
MultiBank Group reported revenue of $209 million and profit of $170 million for the first half of 2025, a 20% increase in revenue compared
to the same period last year.
In April, the company set a single-day trading record by
processing $56 billion in transactions, supported by high client activity
across its global platforms.
More positive results from NAGA Group
Also this week, NAGA reported revenue of EUR32.2 million for the first half of 2025, up 2% from EUR 31.6 million a year
earlier. EBITDA increased 8% to EUR 3.0 million despite higher marketing
expenses.
The Hamburg-based company continued to invest in expanding
its “financial superapp” user base, maintaining the growth seen in 2024, when
it posted full-year revenue of EUR 62 million.
Regional banks bet on crypto
Beyond the financial reports, Paul Golden highlighted how crypto has moved further into the
financial mainstream in 2025, with a clearer regulatory environment encouraging
mid-tier and smaller US financial institutions to explore crypto offerings.
🇺🇸 Eric Trump says, “If the banks don’t watch what’s coming, they’re gonna be extinct in 10 years” if they don’t embrace #Bitcoin and crypto. pic.twitter.com/w42gZpgyxa
— Trending Bitcoin (@BitcoinNews21M) August 4, 2025
Surveys indicated that consumer confidence in regional banks
had recovered from the reputational damage caused by the collapses of First
Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank in 2023.
Executive moves of the week
In our executive roundup, B2C2, the crypto market maker
owned by Japanese conglomerate SBI, expanded its presence in Southeast Asia by
appointing Laura Teo as Singapore Country Head and Head of Sales, APAC.
Equiti Group reshuffled its top ranks, promoting Sartaj
Singh to Chief Technology Officer, Rick Fulton to Chief Risk and Audit Officer,
and Sean Hong to Chief Financial Officer.
Bitcoin, XRP, Ether price action
Early this week, Bitcoin rose 2.84% to $121,625, driven by
strong institutional demand and expectations of a favorable Federal Reserve
policy. The move brought the cryptocurrency close to its all-time high, with
analysts targeting the $140,000 level.
Ethereum price on Thursday. Source: CoinMarketCap
At the same time, XRP jumped 11% to above $3.25 after the dismissal of the Ripple-SEC settlement case. The second-largest crypto, ether, traded at $4,750 on Thursday, coming within 3% of its $4,865 all-time high set in late 2021.
Apex Financial takes 3% stake in CMC Markets
In the UK, Apex Group acquired a 3.07% stake in London-listed CFDs broker CMC Markets through its Jersey-based trust entity,
becoming one of the broker’s top shareholders.
Lord Cruddas, CMC’s founder and CEO, continued to hold over
59% of the company. The filing did not specify the cost, but the market value
of the shares on that date was around £21.66 million.
Hirose permanently ends retail CFD onboarding outside Japan
In our exclusive story, Hirose Financial stopped onboarding new retail clients under its UK- and Labuan-regulated entities. A Companies House filing showed that the UK entity planned to shift its focus to B2B market opportunities.
A notice on Hirose’s offshore website homepage
Hirose’s client registration pages for the UK and Labuan
entities stated that retail applications were permanently closed. However, another notice on a separate Hirose website, which
redirected potential clients to offshore platforms, described the suspension as
temporary.
Nvidia and AMD buy back China access
Away from the industry, after months of lost sales, the US allowed Nvidia and AMD to sell AI chips to China in exchange for a portion of
the revenue.
Nvidia and AMD had seen billions in potential revenue vanish
under the US ban on high-performance chip exports to China. Beijing subtly restricted the use of foreign AI hardware, a
move that could reshape the chip market and disadvantage Nvidia and AMD.
Chinese regulators told companies, including Alibaba and
ByteDance, to justify their orders of American-made AI chips, especially for
projects related to government or national security.
