CMC Markets (LSE: CMCX) has signed Upvest as the infrastructure provider behind a new multi-currency cash equities offering in Germany, the latest sign that the FTSE 250 broker is pushing harder to shed its CFD-only image and rebuild itself as a multi-asset retail venue. Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)Under the deal announced today (Tuesday), German clients will be able to trade stocks, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds denominated in pounds, euros and US dollars through a single account starting this autumn, the two companies said.Multi-Currency Push Lands in a Crowded German MarketWhat CMC is offering, according to the company, is the ability to hold and trade securities in their native currency without forced conversion at the point of trade, alongside what it described as instant onboarding and real-time data. German offering will replicate the zero-commission model the firm rolled out in the UK earlier this year, when it launched a single platform combining investing and CFD trading for British clients.Christine Romar, head of Europe at CMC Markets Germany, said the partnership would let CMC's German users trade LSE-listed names in sterling, DAX components in euros and US tech stocks in dollars on the same platform. "Today's investors don't think in terms of borders, but in terms of opportunities," she said in a statement, adding that the rollout was a "massive leap forward" for the broker's European push.CMC is wading into a segment that already has well-established incumbents. Berlin-based Trade Republic and Munich-based Scalable Capital have spent the past several years building large retail equity books in Germany, while Saxo, Interactive Brokers and Lightyear all market multi-currency share trading to European customers. Flatex and Comdirect, the discount-broking arms of more traditional German banks, also offer access to international exchanges, although typically with conversion charges and pricing structures that retail investors increasingly question.The German launch is also meant as a template. CMC said the same plumbing will be used as it expands into other European markets and adds localized products such as pension wrappers and tax-advantaged accounts, although it did not give a timeline for those follow-on launches or name the next target markets.Another Step in the "Super App" PlanThe Upvest deal slots into a broader strategy that CMC outlined last November, when it told investors it wanted to become a financial "super app" combining traditional finance, decentralized finance and eventually banking products. At the time the broker laid out a three-phase plan that would start with a multi-asset retail platform in the UK before adding tokenized assets, stablecoins and, in a third phase, payments and banking features.CMC is not alone in chasing that model. XTB, Swissquote, Tradu and NAGA have all pitched similar visions to investors, with mixed results so far. None of them comes close to the scope of Asian super apps such as Alipay or WeChat, and analysts have questioned whether European retail brokers can persuade clients to consolidate banking, investing and trading in a single venue when local incumbents still control the bulk of household deposits.For CMC, the German build-out comes off a year of heavier-than-usual product activity. The broker reported first-half pre-tax profit of £49.3 million on net operating income of £186.2 million in November, lifted its full-year guidance by 10% and saw its shares jump roughly 40% in the weeks that followed. It serves more than 1.5 million traders worldwide and offers around 12,000 instruments, mostly as CFDs.Upvest Cements Its Role as Europe's Go-To Investment PlumberFor Upvest, the CMC deal is the latest in a string of broker and bank wins that have turned the Berlin company into one of the more visible names in European brokerage infrastructure. The company raised $125 million last month at a €640 million valuation in a round led by Sapphire Ventures and Tencent, with chief executive Martin Kassing telling Bloomberg at the time that Upvest was targeting more than €100 million in annualized revenue and profitability within 24 months. "CMC Markets chose Upvest because they needed infrastructure that could match their ambitions, not slow them down," Kassing said in a statement. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal or whether CMC will pay licensing fees, transaction-based charges or a combination of the two.CMC joins a client roster that already includes Revolut, N26, bunq, Webull, Raisin, DKB and Santander's Openbank, which migrated its German fractional-share offering to Upvest last year. In late 2025 IG, the London-listed CFD broker, used Upvest's API to launch stock trading for French retail clients, and earlier in the year Webull UK plugged into Upvest to add LSE-listed shares and £1 fractional trading. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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