Saxo Bank Reports Lower Trading Metrics in July, KVB Kunlun Also Disappoints

Saxo Bank reported that its monthly volume fell 5.7 percent in July to $215 billion compared with $228 billion a month earlier. The average daily volume declined to $9.8 billion per day compared with $10.8 billion in June.  However, Customer deposits rose to a high of $9.71 billion.

Meanwhile, the Cayman Islands-incorporated FX broker KVB Kunlun released its interim trading results for the first half of 2014. In the period through June 30, 2014, KVB saw its unaudited earnings from leveraged FX and other trading income reach HK$42.7 billion, down from $HK70.29 billion a year earlier.

Despite the weak performance in both quarters, things got better in the second quarter though the company performed poorly compared to the same period in 2013. The company reported a profit of HK$1.2 million in the second quarter compared to a loss of HK$7 million in the first quarter.

The company’s weak performance indicates that low trading volumes haven’t just affected Western markets, but also Japanese and Asian markets as well. Most retail FX brokers have posted unimpressive results as the low volatility in the markets takes its toll.

Total income in the first half of this year stood at HK$57.03 billion, nearly half the amount generated in the same period in 2014, which was HK$95.601 billion. Revenues fell 45 percent in the first quarter, a trend that continued into the second quarter.

KVB Kunlun had earlier sent a profit warning to its investors, saying that it expected to post a pre-tax profit of HK$7.076 million in the first six months of 2014. This is a sorry state of affairs considering that the company posted a pre-tax profit of HK$31.6 million.