Volatility is good for us, says Plus500 boss, as markets hit by Ukraine fears

The boss of Plus500 has said that his company will benefit from the volatility caused by tensions between Ukraine and Russia, as the business reported a drop-off from high profits in 2020, which were pushed upwards by pandemic volatility.

David Zruia, who runs the online trading company, said that wars and other major global events spark volatility in markets, which draws customers into investing their money.

“Of course, volatility is good for us. Whenever there is volatility, there is interest from customers – both from new customers to register and existing customers – to trade,” he told the PA news agency.

“We hope for peace. But we do enjoy the volatility that is being driven by all this news.”

He added: “History shows that always extraordinary global events, invasions, wars, usually cause higher volatility.”

It comes as the business revealed plans to return another 55 million dollars (£41 million) to investors by buying back their shares.

The business said that pre-tax profit dropped 26% between 2020 and 2021 to 386.4 million dollars (£285 million).

Revenue, meanwhile, dropped 18%, but is still more than double its level before the pandemic.

Mr Zruia said: “Plus500 delivered another excellent operational and financial performance in 2021 and we made significant progress with our strategic road map to develop our position as a leading global multi-asset fintech group.

“Our future growth will be delivered through continued development of our technology, particularly in relation to driving customer retention, successfully obtaining new operating licences and launching new products.

“These growth opportunities will be achieved by continued organic investments in our business and through additional acquisitions.”