AUSIEX to acquire FIIG Securities

Wholesale trading platform AUSIEX will acquire fixed income trading business FIIG Securities by the end of June 2025.

The acquisition price has not been disclosed, but Financial Standard understands it has been described as "fair value".

Financial Standard also understands the FIIG executive team will stay on in their current capacity for the transition and the FIIG brand will continue to exist but will be noted as "an AUSIEX company" going forward.

AUSIEX chief executive Patrick Salis said the transaction will allow the AUSIEX business to expand its range of products and services to meet the wider needs of traders, advisers and investors.

"With this move, AUSIEX expands beyond exchange traded instruments listed on ASX and CBOE, to now also include over the counter (OTC) domestic and international fixed income products via the FIIG platform," Salis said.

"It will provide local institutions, financial advisers, family offices, SMSF and HNWIs with the most comprehensive investments trading and portfolio administration platform offering in the country."

Salis said AUSIEX aims to make fixed income investing easier to access for all Australians.

"We want to make trading bonds as easy as buying and selling BHP shares on the ASX," Salis said.

"FIIG has significant upside and potential to grow to north of $100 million revenue in five years when powered by AUSIEX platform. It has private clients, and we see room to add relationships in the intermediary - financial planner - and insto space and - over the long-term - retail customers."

AUSIEX will aim to reduce the minimum parcel size for bond trades in over-the-counter markets from $500,000 to as little as $1000.

FIIG serves more than 6000 clients and has been active in the Australian market for over 25 years.

"This acquisition brings together two culturally and commercially aligned businesses with highly complementary strengths," FIIG chief executive Alex Welch said.

"It marks an exciting step forward in our ambitions to make bonds accessible to Australian investors while continuing to enhance the services we deliver to our clients with even greater capabilities."

In March, ASIC launched a lawsuit against FIIG Securities over allegations of longstanding cybersecurity failures which saw the private data of more than 18,000 clients stolen and released on the dark web.

According to ASIC, FIIG failed to have adequate cyber risk management systems in place for a period of four years - from March 2019 to June 2023.

Due to this failure, ASIC alleges, a hacker was able to infiltrate FIIG's systems for about three weeks, stealing highly sensitive client information such as names, addresses, birth date, driver's licences, passports, bank accounts, and tax file numbers. The data was then released on the dark web.

The breach occurred after a FIIG employee downloaded a .zip file containing malware while browsing the internet.