The companies, products and regulatory developments shaping the broker industry.
The timeline from June asset restrictions and interim managers to special administration and a later AML investigation raises unresolved questions about safeguarding and customer recovery, without establishing criminal guilt.
CMC Markets ended its 2026 financial year with £1.15 billion of segregated client money, £454 million more than a year earlier, yet income on client funds declined 3.7%. The divergence shows why closing balances, average balances, rates and customer pass-through cannot be collapsed into a single apparent yield.
Wise’s $43.5bn customer-holdings headline combines $32.1bn of recognised customer balances with $11.4bn of off-balance-sheet custody assets, which supplied 40.6% of the annual increase.
The Central Bank found daily shortfalls of up to €5.2m in the e-money institution’s safeguarding account. Its settlement notice records no evidence of realised consumer detriment.
The e-money entity admitted safeguarding and outsourcing breaches; the settlement is separate from Coinbase Europe’s 2025 AML case.
The appointment moves the electronic-money firm's prolonged wind-down into a statutory process, with accounts frozen while administrators establish the money available for return.
The appointment follows client-account restrictions and a separate shareholder divestment order. Reconciliation and the placement of client money with compliant counterparties remain central to account access.