Online trading platform FxPro has cancelled an initial public offering (IPO) amid plans by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to introduce new measures within the spread-betting sector.
Last month, the FCA put forward a number of proposed changes for customers selling contract for difference products to retail customers, such as standardised risk warnings and mandatory disclosure of profit-loss ratios on clients’ accounts by all providers.
The news hit the market hard, with major operators IG Group, CMC Markets and Plus500 seeing their share prices plummet in the immediate aftermath.
Prior to the announcement, FxPro had been planning an IPO, but, according to sources cited by Sky News, the operator has informed several prospective non-executive directors, including Rank Group director Owen O’Donnell, that the company will remain privately owned.
The unnamed sources added that Richard Kilsby, a former director of the London Stock Exchange and online operator 888, will remain as chairman of FxPro “for the foreseeable future”.
Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley had been due to oversee the listing, which the sources said will be postponed until market regulation becomes clearer.
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