Japanese Rakuten Securities Acquires Australian FX Brokerage FXAsia

Rakuten Securities has just announced another acquisition in the foreign exchange space. The company acquired the FX brokerage business of FXAsia. The brokerage has been regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and was acquired for an undisclosed sum.

The move follows an expansion of Rakuten Securities in the APAC region after the company bought the Japanese and Hong Kong businesses of FXCM last year. The commitment of the Japanese brokerage to another acquisition shows that the company is serious about going international with its competitive offering.

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FXAsia has been primarily focused on high-net worth clients with the minimum deposit threshold at the brokerage amounting to $10,000.

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The Singapore based consultancy firm FLS Capital Pte. Ltd. has been advising the companies on the transaction. The company is focused on the Broker-Dealer domain including FX/Futures/Commodity brokerages and specializes in M&A, capital introduction, liquidity management, human capital resourcing and others.

Unlike in some other jurisdictions, companies that are getting acquired in Australia are not required to get regulatory approval. The company will merely have to file a document with the ASIC that describes the change in responsible officers. The news responsible officer will have to be approved by the Australian watchdog.

Last March FXAsia has been approached by ASIC in relation to a specific regulatory capital requirement. The brokerage has not been servicing retail clients until fulfilling regulatory requirements. FXAsia has not been on-boarding retail clients in order to comply with the ASIC circular distributed at the time.