Marex Group plc (Marex), a diversified global financial services platform, provides essential liquidity, market access and infrastructure services to clients across energy, commodities and financial markets.
The company provides critical services to its clients by connecting them to global exchanges and providing a range of execution and hedging services across a range of its assets and products. The company operates in a large and fragmented market with significant infrastructure requirements,...
Marex Group plc (Marex), a diversified global financial services platform, provides essential liquidity, market access and infrastructure services to clients across energy, commodities and financial markets.
The company provides critical services to its clients by connecting them to global exchanges and providing a range of execution and hedging services across a range of its assets and products. The company operates in a large and fragmented market with significant infrastructure requirements, as well as regulatory and technological complexity, resulting in high barriers to entry. The company considers these trends to elevate its value proposition and support its growth, as the scale and diversity of its business enable it to effectively service an underserved and growing global client base.
Principal Services
The company provides broking and other essential specialist services to counterparties operating in the major wholesale and exchange-traded commodity markets in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, and certain markets in APAC. The company’s services are divided into four core businesses: Clearing, Agency and Execution, Market Making, and Hedging and Investment Solutions.
Clearing
The company provides clients with execution and clearing services on 60 regulated exchanges worldwide. The company offers execution and clearing services in metals (both base and precious), agricultural products (primarily softs, which include cocoa, coffee, grains, livestock, and sugar), energy, and financial futures and options. Clients have access to voice, electronic, and algorithm execution services for trades across all of its principal markets.
The company’s execution and clearing activities are primarily concentrated on the LME, CME, and ICE. The company is a Ring Dealer and one of nine Category 1 members on the LME, which allows it to trade LME contracts by open outcry in the ring, by telephone, and electronically through LME select, to issue client contracts to clients and to clear trades on its own behalf and on behalf of its clients. The company acts as principal on behalf of its clients and generates revenue through commissions earned on executing and clearing trades. The company also generates interest income from client cash balances that it holds. The company’s clearing fee pricing is determined on a client-by-client basis, based on factors including creditworthiness, client type, and asset class (commodities, for example, have a higher commission rate on average than other asset classes, such as financial securities). The company executes certain trades on behalf of other brokers on a ‘give-up’ basis, meaning they are cleared by another exchange member.
The company is required to post margins with exchanges and Clearing Houses. As a result, the company requires clients to provide margin deposits to cover initial and variation margins. The company determines these margins based on the ‘position limit’ for the relevant client, which represents the maximum exposure that a client can take. To facilitate on-exchange transactions, the company grants margin credit facilities to selected clients for both initial and variation margins, particularly in its metals and agriculture businesses. Many clients are required to post collateral to secure credit, usually in the form of cash, cash equivalents, or, on occasion, metal warrants.
In 2019, the company launched Marex Clearing Services to consolidate and advance its existing clearing offerings. Marex Clearing Services caters exclusively to the wholesale market, predominantly providing services to groups of traders. Marex Clearing Services’ activities are concentrated in interest rate and stock index futures and options products traded on the ICE, the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, and Eurex, the European derivatives exchange. The company’s Neon client portal complements its clearing capabilities with near real-time updates on transactions and exposures.
Agency and Execution
The company’s Agency and Execution business provides essential liquidity and execution services to its clients, primarily through its Capital Markets and Energy divisions. The company utilizes market connectivity to match buyers and sellers to facilitate price discovery and to enable buyers and sellers to transact directly. The company also provides execution services, where it executes transactions on a regulated exchange on behalf of its clients and then passes the transaction to the relevant counterparty or clearing house to settle, and, in connection with its Prime Brokerage Services, provides trade execution custody and clearing services. The company’s clients can trade with it through multiple channels, including voice, electronic, and algorithmic, across all of its principal markets.
Capital Markets
Through the company’s Capital Markets division, it offers liquidity and execution services for financial securities through 42 trading desks that cover products including foreign exchange, equities, fixed income, and other offerings. The division also consolidates certain businesses that the company has acquired over recent years, such as XFA, Volcap Trading Partners Ltd, the Frontier Markets business, certain desks within MCMI, the brokerage business of OTCex, and the prime brokerage and outsourced trading businesses of Cowen, as well as organically developed businesses, such as its Interest Rates Swaps, Cash Equity, Equity Derivatives, and Bank Facilitation desks.
In financial securities markets, the company mostly operates on a matched principal basis, whereby it enters into simultaneous transactions with both a buyer and seller in such a manner that minimizes its market risk exposure under each side of the transaction, generating revenue through either a spread between buying and selling prices or a commission. Certain product lines within the company’s Capital Markets division, in respect of which it acts as principal to buy or sell financial securities for its own account to increase market liquidity, contribute to its Market Making segment, as set out below.
Energy
The company’s Energy division consists of its traditional wholesale energy brokerage business and matches buyers and sellers in the OTC energy market.
The company operates as an agent for its clients, leveraging its extensive knowledge of the energy sector and its relationships with clients to arrange trades in OTC energy products and add value through multi-leg, multi-product, and multi-class transactions. The company covers energy asset classes in all major markets and has a leading market share in many products, which allows it to access deep liquidity for its clients.
The company offers Energy services across the below principal products:
Oil: Fuel oil financial products, light ends (such as liquefied petroleum gas and naphtha financial products), physical oil products, gasoline financial products, middle distillates financial products, crude futures, crude options, OTC crude, and physical crude.
Power and gas: Power, natural gas, liquid natural gas futures, OTC crude, physical crude, renewables, and petrochemicals.
Shipping and freight: Physical wet freight.
The company’s Energy division generates revenue through commissions from arranging trades and through the sale of OTC energy market data.
Market Making
The company provides Market Making services across major commodities markets for metals, agricultural products, and energy. The company also acts in a market-making capacity in respect of financial securities and certain product lines within its Capital Markets division, including in equities and corporate bonds and interest rate swaps products and through its Frontier FX desk. As of December 31, 2024, the company traded a total of more than 57 asset classes and had 134 front-office FTEs in its Market Making business. The company’s significant scale and broad market connectivity enable it to provide competitive prices on a principal basis in a wide variety of energy and commodity markets, which differentiates its business from many of its peers.
The company acts as principal on Market Making transactions by buying and selling commodities and securities on an exchange for its own account, which increases liquidity in the relevant market. The clients it serves in its Market Making business are categorized as producers and refiners (such as Codelco, ZiJin, Cooxupe, Cepsa, Glencore, Gasum, and ElectroRoute), consumers (such as Wendy's, Nestle, Nordon, and Energie260), banks (such as Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and RWE), and trading firms and asset managers (such as BlackRock, Wellington Management, Glencore, and Shell Energy).
Hedging and Investment Solutions
Through the Hedging Solutions division of the company’s Hedging and Investment Solutions business, it provides its clients with OTC traded hedging and customized OTC derivatives solutions. The company generates revenue from its Hedging and Investment Solutions business by building a return into the pricing of the product. The company’s commodity hedging solutions allow producers and consumers of commodities to hedge their exposure to movements in energy and commodity prices, as well as exchange rates, across a variety of different time horizons.
Where a client's requirements go beyond the solutions offered by exchange-listed products, the company’s Hedging and Investment Solutions business creates a tailored derivatives solution through customized OTC derivatives with the objective of matching the client's needs. The division comprises two key sub-divisions: Hedging Solutions, and Financial Products.
The company intends to further build out the distribution network for its Hedging and Investment Solutions business in the United States, Brazil, and APAC and explore opportunities in the environmentals market, including carbon credits. The company also plans to continue to invest in its derivatives engine and client portal to further enhance its competitive advantage.
Hedging Solutions
The Hedging Solutions business provides the company’s clients with tailored risk management solutions across a spectrum of commodity markets, including agriculture (including grains, softs, forestry, and dairy), metals, energy (including biofuels), and currency markets. Clients include trading houses, producers, consumers, as well as banks and distributors.
Hedging Solutions organizes tailored hedging solutions into four primary categories:
Participation: Participation products allow clients to participate one-to-one in the underlying market, either in the underlying contract currency or in the local currency.
Protection: Protection products allow clients to mitigate against adverse or unexpected market moves that could otherwise damage the business.
Price Improvement: Price improvement products enable clients to achieve a better sale price compared to the market price, in exchange for less certainty in volume executed.
Range Extraction: Range extraction products extract value from range-bound markets. These can be tailored to give more appropriate risk profiles than listed alternatives.
The Hedging Solutions division offers some margin forgiveness to most clients for a pre-agreed amount of their margin call. As a result, the Hedging Solutions division assumes a degree of credit risk for its clients to the extent of such agreed amount. The company also extends credit lines to select clients for variation margin payments. Given the increased risk to the company’s business, variation margin credit is subject to additional limits, including the capping of credit offered in specific geographies.
Financial Products
The company launched Financial Products, its structured notes business, in 2018. The Financial Products division had 770 clients in the years ended December 31, 2024. These clients include private banks, independent asset managers, pension funds, and corporates, such as Bondpartners SA, Bank J. Safra Sarasin, Julius Baer, and Union Bancaire Privée. The structured notes business provides its clients with Structured Notes and represents a way to diversify its sources of funding and to reduce the utilization of its Credit Facilities.
The company’s regulated subsidiary Marex Financial is the legal entity through which it conducts the structured notes business, and Marex Group plc and Marex Financial are both issuers under its Structured Notes Program. Marex Financial is rated BBB by S&P, and Marex is rated BBB- (outlook stable) by S&P and BBB by Fitch.
The company organizes its investment solutions into four primary categories:
Participation: Clients invest in a single security that provides access to the performance of a selected underlying asset or assets, which can be actively managed by the client over time.
Capital Protected: Low-risk solutions that provide investors with their principal investment back plus the growth of a chosen underlying asset at maturity.
Yield Enhancement: In a low-interest environment, clients receive a relatively large coupon if the market remains flat or rallies but risk some capital if the market falls beyond a certain level.
Leverage: Investors receive full participation in the upside and downside of the chosen underlying asset without providing the full cash value of the underlying asset.
The company offers a diverse portfolio of Structured Notes, including auto-callable, fixed, stability, and credit-linked notes, with varied terms across numerous asset classes. Marex Group plc and Marex Financial act as the ‘manufacturers’ of the Structured Notes. The notes are distributed to investors through a network of distributors. The Structured Notes are settled through the Clearstream clearing system to investors who purchase and hold the structured notes through their custodian bank. Some of the Structured Notes issued by Marex Financial are listed on the Vienna MTF, a multilateral trading facility operated by the Vienna Stock Exchange.
In addition, the company provides liquidity in the secondary market for its Structured Notes. As part of its risk management strategy, the Structured Notes are hedged through a combination of exchange-traded derivatives and OTC trades with top-tier investment banks. Marex Financial also operates an alternative structured notes program, the Tier 2 Program, which, due to the long-dated term of the structured notes issued thereunder, enables the Tier 2 Notes to qualify as Tier 2 capital for the purposes of its regulatory capital requirements.
Information Technology
The company has developed and continues to develop client-centric proprietary technology, which enables it to deliver innovative solutions to its clients and create a scalable operating environment across its business and enables the efficient integration of its acquired businesses. The company deploys numerous computer and communications systems and networks to operate its broking business, including front-end broking platforms available to clients and brokers to disseminate information, provide analytics, and collect and manage orders, alongside its back-office infrastructure.
The company’s operating platforms are supported by third-party platforms, including modern cloud-based solution providers. These third-party providers help the company to ensure that its technology is reliable, scalable, and provides a seamless client experience. Cloud services help the company accelerate its product development by ensuring that it can leverage existing technology and that it can bolt on additional services where applicable. This enables the company to focus its development efforts on the platforms that differentiate its offerings and reduce its time-to-market.
At the core of the company’s technology offering are Neon and Agile, its proprietary front-end broking platforms.
Neon
The company launched Neon, its trading, risk, and data platform, in 2020. Neon provides traders with direct access to global commodity and financial exchanges, enables clients to manage their risk, including through the application of risk management methodologies, and provides access to market data. Neon can be accessed by multiple channels, including via desktop and mobile. The number of Neon users was approximately 22,000 for the year ended December 31, 2024. The company calculates the number of users based on the number of subscribers that accessed the platform during each respective year.
Neon's applications are summarized below:
Neon Insights: Research, commentary, and insights across energy, metals, agricultural, and financial markets.
Neon Energy: Fully customizable, real-time view of the company’s highly liquid energy markets.
Neon Metals: Access to the company’s liquidity in base metals, from adjusting 3M positions to trading spreads.
Neon Crude: Real-time crude trading platform, allowing users to view and trade bids for the Canadian crude market.
Neon Trader: Real-time exchange trading with access to multiple global futures and options markets.
Neon Risk: Comprehensive post-trade risk management, allowing users to manage risk effectively with real-time P&L at instrument, account, trading group, or firm level.
Agile
Agile is the company’s full-service commodity broking platform that allows clients to manage their OTC hedging portfolio electronically. The company’s Agile platform aims to provide clients with full transparency and control through the hedging life cycle.
The Company’s Principal Markets
EMEA
The company is headquartered in London, with offices in Paris, Versailles, Dublin, Milan, Bruchköbel, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Lisbon, Madrid, Belfast, Geneva, the DIFC, and Tel Aviv.
Americas
The company has offices in New York, Chicago, Houston, Stamford, Miami, San Francisco, Des Moines, Clark, Saint Louis Park, Red Bank, Richmond, Schaumburg, Calgary, Montreal, and São Paulo. The company’s North American energy business is based in its Houston office, its agricultural business is based in Chicago, and its New York office focuses on its financial products.
APAC
The company has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Auckland. In addition to clients served by its Asia desks, the company’s European and North American offices have a growing base of clients located in Asia that are principally served by its London and New York desks.
Seasonality
While the company is not materially impacted by seasonality, traditionally financial markets around the world generally experience lower volumes at the end of the year due to a slowdown in business activities around holiday seasons.
Regulation
As a global financial services platform, the company has the following regulated financial services companies.
Regulated Entities in the U.K.
The below is a list of all of the company’s entities that are regulated in the United Kingdom (the ‘U.K. Regulated Entities’):
Marex Financial, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by the FCA, in Italy by the Consob, in Dubai by the SCA, and in Australia by the ASIC;
Marex Spectron International Limited (‘MSIL’), which is regulated in the United Kingdom by the FCA and by the Alberta Securities Commission in Canada;
MCMI, which is regulated by the FCA;
Marex Prime Services Limited, which is regulated by the FCA; and
HPC Investment Services Limited, which is regulated by the FCA.
Regulated Entities in the U.S.
The below is a list of all the company’s entities that are regulated in the United States (the ‘U.S. Regulated Entities’):
MCMI, which is regulated as an FCM by the CFTC and is a member of and regulated by the NFA. MCMI is also regulated by the CME (its designated SRO), and as a broker-dealer by the SEC and FINRA;
MSIL, which is regulated as an introducing broker (‘IB’) by the CFTC and is a member of and regulated by the NFA;
Marex MENA Limited (‘MML’), which is regulated as an IB by the CFTC and is a member of and regulated by the NFA;
XFA, which is regulated as a broker-dealer by the SEC, as an IB by the CFTC, is a member of and regulated by the NFA and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (‘CBOE’) (in respect of the CBOE, as its designated SRO); and
Marex Puerto Rico LLC (‘MPR LLC’), which is regulated as an IB by the CFTC and is a member of and regulated by the NFA.
Regulated Entities in the E.U.
The below is a list of all the company’s entities that are regulated in the European Union (the ‘E.U. Regulated Entities’):
Marex SA, which is regulated by the AMF and the ACPR in France. Marex SA has regulated branches in Portugal (regulated by the CMVM) and in Italy (regulated by the Consob);
MSEL, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (‘CBI’) in Ireland. MSEL has regulated branches in Germany (regulated by BaFin) and Spain (regulated by the CNMV);
Marex France SAS (‘Marex AIFM’), an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (‘AIFM’) regulated by the AMF in France; and
Arfinco SA, which is regulated by the ACPR in France.
Regulated Entities in other jurisdictions
The below is a list of all the company’s entities that are regulated in jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom, the United States, or the European Union:
Marex Spectron Asia Pte. Ltd. (‘MSAPL’), which is regulated by the MAS in Singapore and the NFA in the United States;
Marex Hong Kong Limited (‘MHKL’), which is regulated by the SFC in Hong Kong;
Marex Financial Services Hong Kong Limited (‘MFS HK’), which is regulated by the SFC in Hong Kong;
MML, which is regulated by the DFSA in the DIFC; and
Marex Australia Pty Ltd (‘MAPL’), which is regulated by ASIC in Australia.
Under the IFPR, the company is subject to consolidated prudential supervision by the FCA.
The company must comply with the ‘basic’ and ‘standard’ remuneration requirements contained in the Senior Management Arrangements, Systems and Controls sourcebook (‘SYSC’) 19G of the FCA.
MCMI, MML, MSIL, XFA, and MPR LLC are subject to significant regulation in the United States, including requirements imposed by the CFTC, FINRA, the SEC, and the NFA.
MSEL (and MSEL’s branches in Germany and Spain), the Italian branch of Marex Financial (pursuant to the terms of Marex Financial’s Italian license to provide services in Italy on a cross-border basis), and the Portuguese and Italian branches of Marex SA are authorized and regulated by the CBI, the FCA, and the AMF/ACPR, respectively, making them subject to the regulation and rules of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France, respectively. MSEL and Marex SA also passport their services into other EEA states, which brings them within the scope of the regulations and rules of those jurisdictions.
In Australia, MAPL and MF conduct regulated financial business and are regulated by ASIC as an Australian Financial Services (‘AFS’) Licensee and Foreign Company (Overseas) AFS Licensee respectively.
Because the company handles, collects, stores, receives, transmits, and otherwise processes certain Personal Information of its clients and employees, it is subject to federal, state, local, and international laws related to the processing, privacy, and protection of such data, including the GLBA and the CCPA in the United States, and in Europe, the E.U. GDPR and the U.K.
Intellectual Property
The company’s key trademarks include MAREX and NEON. The company seeks to register its key trademarks in the countries where it operates or intends to operate.
The company also holds a portfolio of domain name registrations, including www.marex.com, www.marexspectron.com, and www.marexsolutions.com.
History
Marex Group plc was founded in 2005. The company was incorporated under the laws of England and Wales in November 2005.
