After 15 years at the top, OANDA waves goodbye to senior director Courtney Gibson as he leaves the industry

OANDA Corporation, whilst a reliable mainstay of the higher end of the electronic trading industry’s retail sector, is no stranger to change, especially within its senior management team.

As last week drew to a close, one of OANDA Corporation’s most senior and respected executives left the company, whilst at the same time leaving the FX industry after 15 years at the very top of OANDA’s hierarchy, joining biometric technology and system development company BioConnect.

Mr Gibson joined OANDA Corporation in December 2003 as a Software Engineer and Engineering Team Lead. His Master of Applied Science degree in Computer Engineering from University of Toronto standing him in good stead, having studied for four years at the institution, with two graduations in Computer Engineering, one at Batchelor level and the latter at Masters level.

Graduating in 2001, Mr Gibson joined SOMA Networks as Engineering Teem Lead, a position he held for three and a half years, however his entrepreneural aspirations in the technology industry had already taken hold, with Mr Gibson having operated his own IT consultancy from April 1994 to September 2001, concurrent to his engagement in studies at university.

Whilst at OANDA Corporation, Mr Gibson became Director of Operations and Information Technology in June 2008 at a time when the company was majoring on its Fintech-orientated ethos, being a proud developer of its ever evolving proprietary trading system and ancillary services that became part and parcel of it.

In June 2012, Mr Gibson was promoted to Managing Director of Trading and Quantative Analytics, at which point he became a member of the Executive Committee and Managing Director of the global trading operation, where he was responsible for over 90% of OANDA’s global revenue.

At the end of 2015, Mr Gibson became Chief Information Security Officer at OANDA, where he n lead OANDA’s strategic and operational work related to data security, corporate IT and business intelligence.

In his final year at the company, Mr Gibson was Head of Engineering in the firm’s Solutions for Business division, before departing last week.

OANDA Corporation is currently in the midst of a wind of change in terms of corporate direction, having been acquired recently by APAC-orientated venture capital firm CVC, and having had a significant interest in becoming prominent in the Asia Pacific region for some years.

FinanceFeeds is aware of some substantial attempts by the company to penetrate the region’s retail markets, with offline seminars in South East Asia and a focus toward mainland China having been notable examples.

The company’s standing as one of only two established and licensed firms participating in the United States has been an interesting moot point for OANDA Corporation, its executive team having been subject to continual changes with the leaving of CEO Ed Eger, R&D Director Natasha Lala whose remit was to take the firm into Silicon Valley from its Californian development center, and K Duker following the debacle that involved OANDA Corporation having developed its own social trading platform fxUnity, only to can it a few months later, write off the development costs, and then buy ailing third party social trading platform Currensee at a time when the social trading phase was already well known to be a conflict of interest between broker, provider and client, before canning that too, at massive cost.

In the APAC region, talented executives Rajesh Yohannan and Gavin Ward left for Australian electronic trading stalwart AxiCorp in 2006, Mr Yohannan demonstrating his acumen and prowess by raising a significant round of funding to develop AxiCorp’s growth.

Now with IG Group entering the United States, the even keels of one of Britain’s most widely respected multi-asset trading firms and GAIN Capital are likely to dominate the US market, and are suitably equipped to do so with their overtly stable structure and established kudos.

OANDA Corporation’s attempt to capitalize on the forced exit from the US market of FXCM at a time when only two companies with their own proprietary trading system, plus the firm’s vast outlay to onboard Tradestation’s US FX client base without buying the software license are two examples of OANDA Corporation’s recent display that it is not quite equipped to go head to head with GAIN or IG in North America, however the firm’s alumni are of extremely high caliber, Mr Gibson being a prime example of such.

FinanceFeeds wishes Mr Gibson great success in his new position at a time when biometric recognition is heading into its prime for compliance, e-commerce and web security.