Fxcm did not exactly 'buy' the retail branch - what actually happened was that every Hotspot retail client got an email saying that they are closing down and that, if the client choose to do so, they can move the account over to fxcm after the client signs the papers. Alternatively, if you don't sign up with fxcm, they will just send the money back. So essentially all that happend is that they sent out a bunch of emails to their former clients pimping for fxcm.
Clients that qualified got an additional email offering to continue to trade with Hotspot on the institutional branch. As a former hotspot client i happen to know.
All that has nada to do with the ops question, by the way..