GAIN Capital and Plus500 Report ‘No Material Impact’ from Swiss Franc Volatility

Since IG Group announced earlier that it is vulnerable to up to £30 million in losses due to today’s move in the Swiss franc, industry participants have been awaiting official word from other public companies. Releasing updates to shareholders, GAIN Capital and Plus500 have both recently issued their statements. Contrasting to IG, both GAIN Capital and Plus500 stated that the CHF moves had no material effect on their business.

In its public release to shareholders, Plus500 related that it “is pleased to confirm to the market that this has had no material impact on the Company's financial and trading position." They added that the broker was in fact profitable on the day, which they tied to “robustness of its Risk Management Risk Management One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, Read this Term policies and processes which effectively managed the Company's exposure to the Swiss franc."

Over at GAIN Capital, the broker commented, “Based on its current market and credit exposure, GAIN does not expect today’s market events to have a material adverse financial impact.” It’s worth noting that GAIN Capital increased margin requirements for the CHF to 5% in September, which ultimately would have decreased their overall exposure in the currency.

Despite the comments from GAIN Capital during the trading day, the announcement was unable to propel shares higher, which closed today down over 7% to $8.32. Similarly, shares of Plus500 were lower by just over 4% to 608.15p on a weak day for online brokers.