By Victor Golovtchenko
FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) has just announced that it will make another payment to its creditors from Leucadia National (NYSE:LUK). The company received a bailout loan from the company in the aftermath of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) decision to scrap the floor under the EUR/CHF rate at 1.20.
Up to date FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM) has already repaid $115 million of its loan, which totaled to $310 million including fees. The funding for the repayment comes from the completion of the sale of FXCM's Hong Kong division to Japanese brokerage Rakuten Securities.
The company has confirmed in a statement that it received from the sale about $38 million. In addition Rakuten Sec has become a white label customer of FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM), as the company will continue using the trading systems in place for its clients in Hong Kong.
Commenting on the announcement, the CEO of FXCM Inc (NYSE:FXCM), Drew Niv, stated, "The company remains focused on completing our near-term strategy of eliminating the Leucadia debt through the sale of non-core assets and cash generated through operations as well as accelerating the growth of our core business through a number of FX and CFD initiatives."
With the asset sales from FXCM providing the bulk of the funding for the repayment of Leucadia's loan, the company has also taken steps to update its offerings to retail clients. Customers of FXCM's UK now have the option to sign up for a dealing desk account which provides up to 1:400 leverage.