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LONDON`: George Soros said he was confident that support for Britain to remain in the European Union would rise ahead of the June 23 vote, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Soros told the Journal there remained a good chance that the European Union will collapse due to the migration crisis, challenges in Greece and a potential British exit from the EU.
“If Britain leaves, it could unleash a general exodus, and the disintegration of the European Union will become practically unavoidable,” Soros told the Journal.
But Soros said recent strength in the British pound was a sign that a vote to exit the EU is less likely.
“I’m confident that as we get closer to the Brexit vote, the ‘remain’ camp is getting stronger,” Soros was quoted by the Journal as saying.
“Markets are not always right, but in this case I agree with them.”
While betting odds have consistently indicated an In vote, opinion pollsters have so far painted contradictory pictures of how Britons will vote.
Soros bet successfully that the pound was overvalued against the Deutsche Mark in 1992, culminating in so called ‘Black Wednesday’ when John Major was forced to pull sterling out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM).
Broker PhillipCapital UK, meanwhile, said it planned to raise the amount customers have to deposit with them because of the increased risk of sharp swings in the run-up to a British vote on membership of the European Union.
The firm, which has $28 billion assets under management, said it planned to raise margin requirements on sterling denominated trades to 10 percent, while the margin on all other instruments would be raised to 5 percent.
They are currently at 0.25 percent.
Currency brokers are increasingly worried about volatility whatever the result of the June 23 Brexit vote, which they believe will generate sharp swings in the pound in thin liquidity.
Saxo Bank also recently announced a hike in margins and collateral while other brokers like CMC and FXPro are considering whether to raise margins or not.
Many brokers were hit by a sudden lifting of a cap on the Swiss franc against the euro in January 2015 by the Swiss National Bank that saw trading seize up, prices disappear and the currency’s value balloon by 40 percent in minutes. That led to a trail of losses and bankruptcies, especially in the retail trading segment.
“If the UK votes to leave the EU we could experience unparalleled volatility for a period of time and so we are taking this action in the run up to the referendum in order to protect our clients against any extreme market movements,” head of derivatives trading Sean Tan said in a statement.
The increase in margin will take place in two stages starting from June 12, with the second increase occurring on June 19, four days before Britons go to the polls.
Leading retail foreign exchange broker Saxo Bank recently told clients to set aside 7 percent of their leveraged pound accounts compared with two percent previously.
The change will be in place from June 16.