FCA revokes license from Union Standard International

Union Standard International Group Limited is a UK-headquartered subsidiary of the leading USG Group. Previously known as USGFX, the UK-based subsidiary recently lost its FCA license, meaning that it can no longer offer its products and services in the country legally.

The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK financial watchdog, noted that the company had its license revoked on December 16th. The broker can no longer offer CFDs or FX trading legally in the UK, but it can still operate in other international markets, where it is licensed at the moment.

The reason behind the loss of license remains unknown

The reason why the company lost its license in the UK remains unknown. In fact, it is not clear whether Union Standard International dropped the license voluntarily, or if the regulator revoked it for some reason.

It is worth noting that the cancellation came only one month after the broker’s UK CEO, Damian McDowell, decided to step down after serving as the company’s lead executive for over a year. Initially, he took the position in July 2021, replacing the previous CEO, Simon Quirke. Now, he decided to leave the position as well, leaving the company without its CEO. To this day, the firm still has not decided who will replace McDowell.

Another thing worth noting is that the Companies House filing revealed that the firm was originally incorporated on March 31st, 2017. Currently, it only has a single Director, a Burmese national, Soe Hein Minn. Minn is also a controlling shareholder of the group, but he was ousted from the UK arm of the broker’s Board more than two years ago, in October 2020. Later on, he returned in July 2021.

History repeats itself for United Strategic International

United Strategic International previously made news in mid-2020, when its Aussie operations ended up in voluntary administration. Shortly after, the company saw the cancellation of its AFS (Australia Financial Services) license. At the time, the company’s administration blamed Minn, stating that he did not cooperate with the liquidation process.

Following this, the broker decided to move its headquarters from Australia, and it decided to shift it to London. However, the negative reputation was not so easy to shed, so the company also decided to rebrand.

For the time being, the company still has multiple offshore entities, so it can use them to continue offering its services. In total, it features counterparty trading services, with approximately 60 different instruments on MetaTrader 4 and 5.

If the company decides to move its headquarters from the UK as well, similarly to what happened after it lost its license in Australia, it remains to be seen where it might go next. One thing that is known about its situation in Australia is that the firm was facing terrible financial difficulties and that it had a heavy shortfall in client money. Apparently, the exact amount that went missing exceeded $348 million.