Bougatsa breakfast round table with FXPRIMUS: The new direction of televised market signals

New media has made a firm entry into the FX industry, predominantly as a means of not only reaching out to customers, but engaging them and providing a more tangible experience, which primarily enhances the trading experience for retail customers, but perhaps of greater consideration, reduces the cost of, and somewhat replaces, traditional retention techniques.

FinanceFeeds CEO Andrew Saks-McLeod met this morning with senior executives of FXPRIMUS, whose recently established office in Limassol, Cyprus is in the process of constructing a television studio which will play host to a number of FX personalities, with programs ranging from real-time market analysis to interviews, discussions and FX industry-related discussion and news shows.

Here in Cyprus, dining meets commercial enterprise as the island is an FX industry stronghold, with over 170 retail FX brokerages operating on the island of only 840,000 people, yet the majority of FX news channels are not based on the island, and focus on wider subjects which appeal to a non-specific audience despite the often high quality studio facilities.

Laoura Salveta, Head of Marketing at FXPRIMUS is leading this particular project. During a most agreeable brunch consisting of fresh orange juice and a Greek specialty which is called ‘Bougata”, Ms. Salveta confirmed to FinanceFeeds that the direction which will be taken with regard to televised news, analysis and interviews will be a completely open format to allow a platform for the hosting of executives from other FX brokerages, platform vendors, signal providers, portfolio managers and technical analysts to broadcast to the industry itself and retail traders, emulating the form of a comprehensive television channel.

Helen Astaniou, PR and Marketing Communications Manager at FXPRIMUS understands the need to provide interactive methods to bring the industry to the customer, and that retention efforts via press releases and mailshots are not enough to provide the right resources to an increasingly astute retail client base, and similarly are not enough to provide a high-touch user experience.

Mobile platform stalemate gives way to televised interactivity

It was indeed the case that traders felt somewhat remote as they used desktop platforms and had no means of seeing the ‘face’ of a company. This changed when mobile applications became de rigeur among FX brokerages, however these soon became ubiquitous and no further developments were made, in many cases, with regard to the fine-tuning of mobile trading platforms to include ‘smart media’ methods of continually interacting with clients, whether it be messaging from signals providers, educational videos or other systems that follow trade patterns and predict outcome, or simply a video from a renowned market analyst.

In many cases, mobile platforms have not evolved since their inaugural period over 4 years ago. There are exceptions, such as Saxo Bank’s initiative of distributing strategies to clients via social media with its #saxostrats solution, however for many brokers which take third party technology solutions rather than commit vast resources to developing proprietary systems, this is a stalemate situation.

On this basis, Ms. Astaniou discussed with Andrew Saks-McLeod how best to conduct interactive methods of engaging clients. 

“Trading signals videos should range from a few seconds in length, up to a maximum of a minute and a half” she said.

“Most of the time, traders need to know that they are receiving some relevant and useful signal or market data at a critical time, and need to be able to act on it. This does two things. Firstly it empowers the trader very quickly without unnecessary noise, and secondly it generates more volume whilst traders remain loyal customers” – Helen Astaniou, FXPRIMUS

Marshall Gittler, FXPRIMUS Head of Investment Research has a career of providing market analysis on mainstream channels including Bloomberg and CNBC, developed an FX program on Central China TV (CCTV) and has worked for UBS and Swiss Bank Corp, which at the time was SBC Warburg, as well as Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. With this experience, he has deduced what traders need to act on quickly, when the important trading events or hours are in full swing.

With regard to broadcasting aspects which do not relate to market events, and are more important for providing knowledge to the FX industry or retail trading audience, interviews and talk shows will aim to be between 5 to 8 minutes per slot, providing good entertaining and charismatic information from within the FX industry, and therefore keeping traders and industry executives engaged with the provision of up to date current affairs from within the industry which can be watched ‘on demand’ at times when not actually trading.

Emerging markets are THE place for education 

It is widely known that China is not only an economic powerhouse, but home to a very highly educated and sophisticated population. The country’s network of IBs, some of which manage over $200 million in client funds, are using the highest technology to electronically trade the accounts of equally astute and ambitious go-getters. China therefore, is still the main focus of many firms, but can be considered a very developed market.

But what about Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other parts of the Asia Pacific region which are catching the attention of FX firms?

FXPRIMUS realizes that the future traders will be the young millennials from many nations in that region, and that the use of new media in the Far East has not only spiraled, but is the preferred form of  gaining information about any subject, and in particular, quenching their collective thirst for investment and the quest for wealth and self-determination.

Malaysia and Indonesia are homes to large populations, with a considerable percentage of under 30 year olds. By investing in the region as well as in education and outreach, FXPRIMUS sees future value.

The company explained to FinanceFeeds that it has pledged to donate a fixed sum to charitable causes worldwide in December, in accordance with the volume of trades made.

In the past, the company has pledged funds towards a range of causes including the building of vocational training centers for Indonesia’s poorest communities, tilling of fertile land for sustainable development projects and libraries to encourage educational and creative development for underprivileged youth.

With televised media being able to bring the market signals and industry information to an entire tech-savvy, global audience, the customer engagement model is certainly becoming more comprehensive.

Featured photograph: (Left to right) Laoura Salveta, Head of Marketing, FXPRIMUS, Helen Astaniou, Head of PR and Marketing Communications, FXPRIMUS, Andrew Saks-McLeod, CEO, FinanceFeeds, Marshall Gittler, Head of Investment Research, FXPRIMUS. All photography copyright Andrew Saks-McLeod