Monex Group, the Japanese financial conglomerate behind Forex brokers Monex Inc and TradeStation, today reported its operating metrics for March and, consequently, for the first three months of 2014. Unfortunately, the performance picture remained dismal, with Forex trading volumes falling steeply.
The report shows that the global Forex trading volumes – these comprise metrics from Japan's Monex Inc. and US-based TradeStation, amounted to USD 138.1 billion in the first three months of 2014, down by massive 33% from the USD 206.2 billion recorded in the equivalent period in 2013. The result is indeed dismal, as we have been accustomed to seeing solid annual comparisons, now we encounter a rather dull situation. Global FX volumes in March were also weak at USD 40.5 billion, down from USD 60 billion in March 2013. Global daily average revenue trades (DARTs) also disappointed us, dropping by 15% year-on-year to 340,766 last month.
Let's take a look at the fortunes of Monex Inc – DARTs slid 27% year-on-year in March to 159,201. The sole piece of bright news came in respect to active OTC FX accounts – at the end of last month they were 62,484, which was nearly 19% better than in March 2013. That came at the expense of lower average trade value per day – the JPY 115.2 billion (USD 1.11 billion) reading represented a drop of 9% from the reading seen in March 2013.
Monex is not turning a blind eye to the misfortunes in performance and has undertaken cost-cutting efforts, which however, have been controversial so far. This appears to have influenced the mood of shareholders in the group: yesterday it became clear that ORIX would dispose of its stake in the group by selling it to
Shizuoka Bank. The latter is set to become the biggest shareholder in Monex with a stake of 19.54%. Both companies have signed a collaboration agreement and we expect to see some benefits from it – hopefully it will help improve Monex's performance.
You can read the full press release on Monex's March 2014 metrics by clicking on this
link.
About Monex Group Inc.
Monex Group Inc is an online securities brokerage providing advanced financial services to individuals and investors. The company is considered a pioneer among Japanese online securities brokers, and its services cover M&A advisory, debt & equity underwriting, asset management focusing on alternative investments, investment education, and other investment banking functions. Monex Group has offices throughout Asia, and the recent acquirement of brokers TradeStation and IBFX opened its way to the US market as well.