The FinancialOver the past week we have seen reports from Interactive Brokers in the US and SwissQuote group in Europe outlining healthy revenues generated in the previous year. We are keen to find out what challenges brokers are facing in different regions as regulations and market specifics continue to change. So far, many brokers have shown solid results, confirming that they have been prepared for changes all along.
With respect to Interactive Brokers, the company reported numbers for the final quarter of 2019 with net revenues amounting to $500 million, up from $492 million a year earlier. Income before income taxes was $312 million in the final quarter of 2019, compared to income before income taxes of $309 million for the same period in 2018.
The results look to be impacted by strong growth in net interest income, which increased $44 million, or 18%, from the year-ago quarter. This was partially counterbalanced by lower commissions revenue, which decreased $37 million, or 18%, from the year-ago quarter.
Swissquote Group looks to be continuing on a multi-year growth plan with targets set for 2022 having published preliminary revenue figures for 2019, which showed net revenues above forecast, at CHF 50 million. Along with this a record number of client assets are booked at the broker (CHF 32.3 billion) and new money inflows from customers totalled CHF 4.6 billion last year. All healthy growth numbers. Interested parties will be able to learn all the details when a full report is published on March 17, 2020.