OANDA Europe Blames ESMA Restrictions for 20% Revenue Drop in 2019

FCA-regulated OANDA Europe Limited has published its annual financial results for 2019, showing a 20 percent decrease in revenue. The UK company also turned a net loss of $3.55 million from the previous year’s £823,962 gain.

The latest Companies House filing of the company shows that it had a total turnover of over £11.83 million in 2019, compared to the previous year’s £14.8 million.

OANDA pointed out the revenue decline was mostly due to the long impact of ESMA leverage and marketing regulations on the brokerages.

“Following the August 2018 introduction of ESMA’s leverage guidelines, many retail brokers in Europe experienced a 20-40 percent revenue reduction over the following year, which clearly demonstrates the industry impact of the new restrictions,” OANDA spokesperson told Finance Magnates.

It is to be noted that the figures were only from the business of OANDA Europe. OANDA, as a group, maintains multiple entities for its global business. Following Brexit, it is continuing its European business from its newly formed Malta-based subsidiary.

Focus is on Increasing Client Base

Despite the revenue drop, the administrative expense of the broker increased to £15.26 million: this figure was at £13.91 million in 2018. OANDA revealed that the increase in expense was mainly due to the rise in marketing aggressiveness.

“We also made significant investments in our product and digital marketing initiatives over the year, resulting in a further increase in spend,” the spokesperson added.

“We believe these investments are critical to our ongoing success, ensuring we can continue to provide our clients with access to competitive pricing, new trading instruments, and exciting new platform enhancements.”

Indeed, the filing also discussed OANDA’s increased efforts in expanding its client base and implemented other improvements to its platform. The broker is expecting results from the expenses in 2020.

Though OANDA could not reveal any statistics from its 2020 business, the spokesperson revealed that the UK unit had “outperformed” its targets. Many brokers gained a windfall last year due to market volatility and increased retail demand.

“We’ve also continued to grow our active client base, while building on our plans to expand into other markets throughout Europe. As such, we’re looking forward to making 2021 a landmark year for the firm,” the spokesperson added.

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