Why was Copenhagen based Retail FX and CFDs broker Saxo Bank hit with a whopping $50 million fine by the Danish financial regulator? And how does that affect Saxo’s impending sale to Safra Group?
What penalties (and possible jail time) is former FX and CFDs industry executive Brendan Gunn facing, after a guilty plea in Australia court?
Who took over prop firm BullRush after the departure of its founder and CEO Trent Hoerr?
Who did each of Match-Prime and GCEX tap to head their respective Dubai offices, and MENA-facing operations?
Who is IC Markets’ new CTO?
Some of the most read and commented-on FX/CFD industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:
Top FX and CFDs industry news stories this week
Saxo Bank fined $50 million for AML breaches, sale price adjusted. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority has hit Saxo with one of the largest fines we can recall involving an FX & CFDs industry participant, of DKK 313 million (or USD $50 million). Why was Saxo Bank fined? How does this affect the sale of Saxo Bank, which still hasn’t closed more than 10 months after being announced back in March 2025?
Brendan Gunn facing possible jail time after guilty plea to dealing with proceeds of crime. Australia financial regulator ASIC has reported that Brendan Gunn of Brisbane has pleaded guilty to dealing with more than $180,000 when it was reasonable to suspect that those funds were the proceeds of crime, derived from suspected international scams that targeted Australian investors. Brendan Gunn faces a maximum penalty in the Local Court of one year imprisonment, a fine of $12,600, or both.
Exclusive: CFDs broker OGM plans relaunch in 2026. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that London based, FCA regulated One Global Market Limited, which operates the CFDs brokerage brand OGM (at website ogm.market), has plans to resume operations in 2026 after pausing client trading activity for more than a year. OGM is controlled by Israeli entrepreneur Roei Feinberg, and run by longtime CEO (and former FXCM VP of Sales) Naji Karak.
Exclusive: Founder and CEO Trent Hoerr leaves prop firm BullRush as FPFX takes over. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that US-based BullRush, one of the early entrants in the retail prop trading / trading competition space, has seen the departure of its founder and (to date) CEO, Trent Hoerr. Trent Hoerr established BullRush in 2024, leaving his position as COO with trading technology provider FPFX Technologies to launch the new venture, with backing from FPFX principals.
Gold CFDs trading drives XTB to record Revenues of $173 million in Q4 2025. Poland based Retail FX and CFDs broker XTB SA (WSE:XTB) rebounded from a fairly slow Q3 with a blowout Q4, which saw the company bring in record Revenues and healthy bottom line profits to end what was overall a very successful 2025 at XTB. In the fourth quarter of 2025, CFDs based on gold prices were by far the most popular instruments among clients and continued their upward trend, despite the occurrence of significant price corrections in October and December.
Top FX industry executive moves this week
❑ GCEX hires CoinW/MultiBank alum Carmen Tan as Managing Director MENA.
❑ Exclusive: Match-Prime hires Amana exec Kareem Harras as Head of MENA.
❑ BridgeWise hires Thomas Kareklas to cover CFD brokers.
❑ IC Markets hires ADSS/R3 veteran Jaser Mahmoud as CTO.
❑ Roman Snegirev promoted to CMO at Spotware Systems.
❑ Exclusive: Xoala Head of Growth Andrew Mreana departs.
❑ Douglas Cifu, Kenneth Schiciano to join MarketAxess Board of Directors.
❑ Exclusive: Urvi Jay returns to Investment Trends, replacing Brian Chong as international services and sales head.
❑ Exclusive: Traze hires Hantec alum Sanjay Malviya to head India sales.
