Swiss brokerage Dukascopy has reported its results for the first half of 2018. The firm’s revenues totalled CHF 14 million ($14.5 million). The figure is flat when compared to last year as the company’s performance did not get a significant boost from a spike in volatility.

Industry peers have been reporting a massive spike in revenues in H1. While some of this was caused by the collapse in the cryptocurrency market and brokers being able to B-book revenues on the other side of their customers’ trades, others enjoyed a period of turbulence in the equity market in February.

Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets

Without a material increase in FX volatility on a sustained basis, the collapse in the global stock market did not affect the revenue flows of Dukascopy. Whether or not that is related to the trading preferences of the Swiss bank’s clients remains to be seen, as the firm has only published a preliminary report. The Swiss bank’s CFO Laurent Beilliers commented to Finance Magnates: “The main driver of our income is market volatility. This parameter unfortunately can neither be predicted nor influenced.”

A Small Loss

The operating costs for Dukascopy in the first half of the year totalled about CHF 14 million ($14.5 million). The figure represents a slight decrease when compared to last year’s CHF 14.9 million.

The bottom line for the Swiss bank in the first half of this year is a net loss of CHF 187,117 ($193,000) after taxes. The operating result is a loss of CHF 41,137. The loss booked by the company is significantly lower than the CHF 901,711 mark ($939,282) recorded last year.

Last year the firm posted a small net profit of CHF 117,000 ($120,000). Over the years, the net profit of the company has been declining amid an increasingly competitive landscape which caused an increase in costs across the industry. Dukascopy has been diversifying by increasing its presence in Japan and in Asia overall. The company’s reputation of a regulated Swiss bank makes the firm’s proposition in the Far East an attractive one for the local market conditions.

The company has been heavily investing in the development of its infrastructure in recent years. This year however the market is facing the reality of the new ESMA regulations. Whether or not this will have a material impact on the Swiss bank’s business in the near term remains to be seen. 

“The impact of the new ESMA regulation on our EU subsidiary “Dukascopy Europe” is not yet clearly measurable because August is traditionally a calm month due to the vacation time but a decrease of income is expected,” Beilliers elbaorated to Finance Magnates.