ICAP Expects Revenues in the First Half to Drop 10 Percent

Leading financial services firm ICAP reported a trading update on Tuesday outlining its performance in the first half of its fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2014. ICAP netted revenue of 736 million pounds in the first half of 2013, and is scheduled to announce results for the first half of 2014 on November 19^th.

The company expects its revenue for the six months through Sept. 30, this year, to drop 10 percent. ICAP attributed its weak performance to lower interest rates, low volatility in FX market and bank deleveraging.

 “There was some good improvement to client activity in September, as central bank actions led to an increase in foreign exchange and interest rate volatility pushing average daily volumes on EBS to more than $100 billion per day for the first time in twelve months,” said Michael Spencer, the CEO of ICAP.

ICAP also announced that its Group Chief Finance Director, Iain Torrens, is exiting the company. Torrens will serve as the Chief Financial Officer of the TalkTalk Group.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) found a forex trader guilty of defrauding Japanese clients by making false claims about his financial services solution. Scott Beatty, a native of Utah, duped clients through his Peak Capital Management (PCMG) for three years.

Beatty is accused of misrepresenting his trading performance to investors in order to lure them to sign up for his services over a 3-year period from January 2011 through April 2014. He managed to convince more than 49 clients to deposit $825,000 in his scheme. He then ran the scheme as a private account, withdrawing monies for personal use at will.

CFTC ordered Beatty to pay $1.6 million in fines and restitution for the forex fraud.