Edmund Hartwell
Senior Markets Critic
Edmund Hartwell has spent over two decades observing the retail trading industry, focusing on institutional behaviour, capital allocation and corporate governance. Dry and unsentimental, he scrutinises the gap between brokers' press releases and their filings. He covers broker M&A, ownership structures and balance-sheet quality.
Edmund Hartwell is an editorial pen name of the BestForex.io in-house critic desk. See our editorial policy.
Articles by Edmund Hartwell
Two More Senior Exits at Axi as the Head of New Business and the UK Compliance Chief Depart
Axi lost global Head of New Business Stuart Cooke and UK and EU compliance head Katie le Roux at the end of July. Both sat on the FCA entity board.
StoneX Buys Banco Travelex and Takes Aim at the Brazilian FX Market
The owner of FOREX.com and City Index is buying Banco Travelex, the first bank in Brazil dedicated to foreign exchange, in a deal moving $6 billion a year.
eToro Beats Again and Buys TradeZero for Up to $231 Million in a Push for US Active Traders
eToro beat expectations for a third straight quarter, then agreed to buy US brokerage TradeZero for up to $231 million in cash and stock. The deal closes in 2027.
Record $80 Million: FinCEN's Largest-Ever Broker-Dealer BSA Penalty Lands on Canaccord Genuity for AML Failures
FinCEN, the SEC, and FINRA simultaneously resolved action against Canaccord Genuity LLC — totalling $120 million — for willful Bank Secrecy Act violations spanning six years. At least 160 suspicious activity reports were never filed.
$300 Million in Low-Priced Trades, Zero Suspicious Activity Reports: FINRA Fines Pictet Overseas $610,000
FINRA fined Pictet Overseas $610,000 for AML failures that persisted for three and a half years after a regulator had already flagged the exact same deficiencies. A four-year warning. Never acted on.
Blue Ocean ATS: Nobody Was Watching
One employee. 5.5 billion shares. No spoofing or layering surveillance at all. FINRA fined the dominant overnight trading platform $550,000 — but the real number to watch is not the fine.
Plus500's Prediction-Markets Gamble: Forecast or Flutter?
Plus500 is booming on US prediction markets, branding event bets as regulated innovation. BestForex.io asks what happens when the regulators stop agreeing.