News Nuggets | 11 May: Zenfinex, Trading 212 Executives; IG's Warning on TRY

Zenfinex Onboards New Global Marketing Manager

Zenfinex, a retail FX/CFDs broker, has strengthened its marketing team with the hiring of Maria Meramveliotaki as the new Global Marketing Manager.

Meramveliotaki joined the London-headquartered broker from TopFX, where she was the Head of Marketing. She left TopFX after spending about six years at the broker.

The appointment was made when Zenfinex is expanding aggressively expanding its global presence. Last November, the broker obtained a license from Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), adding to its existing authorization in the United Kingdom, Seychelles, and Sierra Leone. In addition, it made a few key hires while its CEO of MENA departed.

Trading 212 Chief Compliance Officer Departs

Darren Dale, the Group Chief Compliance Officer at Trading 212, has departed only after nine months of joining the brokerage.

Dale is a seasoned compliance expert, bringing around 17 years of industry experience to his new role. He joined Trading 212 last September from the London office of ADSS, where he was the Head of Compliance & MLRO for four years. Additionally, he spent five months at FXCM as the Deputy Head of Compliance for the UK and EU, and a couple of years at Cornhill Capital as the Head of Group Compliance. Moreover, he was the Head of Compliance at London-based City Credit Capital for seven months.

eToro to Support $GALA Token Airdrop

eToro, which offers multi-asset brokerage services, is going to support the airdrop of the upgraded Gala Games' $GALA token, Gala v2. This will enable the existing users of GALA(v1) to automatically receive the new GALA(v2) token in a 1:1 ratio airdrop.

Airdrop enables certain eligible crypto wallets to receive a newly launched digital currency for free. These tokens are usually distributed to promote the new project and create a user base.

The broker specified that the airdrop would occur between May 15 at 00:00 and May 16 at 00:00 GMT. It will resume trading with Gala after May 16 at 00:00 GMT, ensuring the stability of the network.

BIS Stresses on Offline CBDC

BIS Innovation Hub Nordic Centre looks to be prioritizing the offline usage of the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as it released a handbook on the subject.

The handbook explores the aspect of making CBDC payments offline without any active internet connection. It highlighted that central banks must consider issues like security, privacy, likely risks, the types of solution, their maturity and applicability, and operational factors for adding the offline payment functionality.

"The ability to pay when offline could ensure this is achieved by providing a layer of resilience, as well as supporting inclusion, accessibility and privacy objectives," said Beju Shah, the Head of the BIS Innovation Hub Nordic Centre. "Implementing offline payment capabilities will require a deeper understanding of the technologies, security threats, risks and mitigating measures, as well as design criteria for privacy, inclusion and resilience."

IG Concerns Volatility Due to Turkey Election

The London-headquartered broker, IG issued a warning notice, pointing out the possibility of market fluctuation with the Turkish Presidential and parliamentary election on May 12.

"Regarding the swap points of Turkish lira currency pairs, there is a good chance that there will be a large divergence from the interest rate differential between the two countries, or a large divergence between the planned amount that can be confirmed from the trading platform and the actual reflected amount," the broker noted.

Furthermore, it highlighted that the opening rate of the Turkish lira on Monday might deviate greatly from Friday's closing rate, and it may not be able to provide trading rates for Turkish lira currency pairs due to a decrease in the liquidity of covered financial institutions. Also, there is a possibility of widening spreads for the Turkish Lira currency pairs.