News Nuggets | 27 March: Binance's New Office, CNMV's Warning and ESMA's Revised Rules

New Online Broker Esmartinvest Hits 10K Clients under 1 Month

A new online broker, Esmartinvest, says it has been able to attract 10,000 clients in less than one month since launching. The broker, which offers MetaTrader 4 platform to its clients, noted that it achieved the feat "by equipping its clients with optimal trading amenities within a secure and transparent atmosphere."

Esmartinvest says it offers its clients trading opportunities across six asset categories, including forex, stocks and cryptocurrency.

Clearstream Introduces Collateral Mapper

Clearstream, a post-trade services provider owned by the Deutsche Börse Group, has unveiled its latest innovation, the Collateral Mapper, a data-driven solution designed to optimize collateral management. Read the full story here.

Exclusive: Tixee Appears to Close Shop

Tixee, a forex and contracts for differences (CFDs) broker operating in the EU and globally, has quietly shuttered services, Finance Magnates learned from an industry source. Read more here.

Crypto Exchange Bitget Taps SxT to Offer Users “Unparalleled Transparency”

Bitget, a Seychelles-based digital asset exchange, has entered into a partnership with Space and Time (SxT), a decentralized data warehousing platform, to offer its users “unparalleled transparency of exchange operations.” Users will also get “a verifiably tamperproof audit trail of data and computation,” Bitget announced on Monday, describing itself as the first centralized exchange to leverage a company such as SxT.

“The trustless Space and Time platform will provide Bitget users with verifiable evidence that the exchange holds the assets it claims to own on behalf of its clients,” Bitget explained.

ESMA Revises Product Governance Guidelines

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its Final Report on updated Guidelines on MiFID II product governance. Key amendments include specifying sustainability-related objectives for product compatibility and adopting a 'clustering approach' for identifying target markets across product groups.

Additionally, ESMA wants to determine a compatible distribution strategy for more complex products under non-advised sales and implement periodic product reviews while applying the proportionality principle.

These updated product governance requirements under MiFID II aim to ensure financial instruments and structured deposits are manufactured and distributed in clients' best interest.

Spanish CNMV Warns against Unregulated Trading Firms

Spain's financial markets regulator, CNMV, has updated its list of warnings against potentially fraudulent and unregulated entities offering financial services to retail investors. Among them are Morgan Finance, OneCapital Invest, Invinco, Theta Investments, Shadlake, Trade Coin, Trade Nation and Millenium Operations.

The CNMV states that these companies are not registered in the corresponding registry of this Commission and, therefore, are not authorized to provide investment services or other activities subject to the supervision of the CNMV.

SVB Rescued by First Citizens Bank

The US Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has approved North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank's takeover of all loans and deposits from the failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). All 17 branches of the institution that triggered the global banking crisis in March opened as First Citizens Bank and Trust Company on Monday, and customers have been automatically transferred with their deposits.

Investing.com Acquires Streetinsider

Investing.com, a platform for financial markets data, tools, analysis, and news, announced on Monday the acquisition of Streetinsider to expand its content offerings. The financial terms of the deal remain unknown.

Investing.com has already integrated Streetinsider into its platform and will embed a range of StreetInsider’s core news services into its mobile apps and website. While some of the contents can be accessed freely, Investing.com will put StreetInsider’s contents behind a paywall.

Read the full article here.

Binance's New Georgia Office

Crypto exchange leader, Binance announced the opening of a new regional hub in Georgia. With the new physical outpost, the exchange is expecting to ramp up talent acquisition and accelerate crypto adoption in the region. The new Binance office already has a team of 25 people.

"For Binance, Georgia is an important point on our map," said Vladimir Smerkis, Binance's Regional Director. "To date, we have held three community meetups here, with more than 2,000 people attending in total. We see a huge potential and interest, both from the crypto community and businesses, in the development of digital assets in the country."

Noor Capital Purchases House of Borse

Noor Capital, an investment firm and financial services provider, has announced its acquisition of 100% of House of Borse shares, a multi-asset financial brokerage in the United Kingdom, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It came less than two weeks after Noor Capital revealed in its regulatory filing that it had acquired a 75 percent stake in House of Borse

This move comes as part of Noor Capital's strategy to expand its presence in Europe and the UK, increasing its customer base and implementing a growth plan that includes launching a variety of investment tools.

Read the full article here.

Conotoxia to Launch Investment Advice for Retail Traders

Conotoxia, a retail trading arm of the major Poland-based fintech, Cinkciarz.pl, has broadened its current FX and CFD offering and launched new investment advisory services with a low entry threshold. The service is already available to retail traders from Europe, enabling them to receive individual investment recommendations on selected financial instruments.

Read the full story here.

Titanium Blockchain CEO Gets 4 Years in Prison

The Founder and Chief Executive of Titanium Blockchain, Michael Alan Stollery, received a prison sentence of four years and three months for defrauding ICO investors of $21 million. Stollery pled guilty to one count of securities fraud last year.

Read the full article here.