Exclusive: FXPRIMUS appoints new CMO a year after Laoura Salveta’s departure
Leaving Orbex after a year as Head of Marketing, Vince De Castro becomes CMO of FXPRIMUS
The retail FX sector in Cyprus, which consists of over 150 registered entities ranging from small white label partners of larger brokerages whose management is largely not based in Europe, to vast, long standing enterprises with global client bases and international pedigree.
As the evolution of the Cyprus-based retail FX business has expanded laterally rather than evolved, the longevity of career among many participants is often punctuated by moving between the companies on the island.
Today, FXPRIMUS gains a new Chief Marketing Officer, superseding Laoura Salveta, a very well respected marketing executive among Cyprus based FX firms, who left the company in October 2016.
FXPRIMUS soldiered on without a permanently appointed Chief Marketing Officer, temporarily standing Helen Astaniou in to lead the company’s marketing efforts until today’s appointment of Vince De Castro.
Mr De Castro joins FXPRIMUS from Orbex, where he was Head of Marketing for one year.
Prior to joining Orbex in January 2017, Mr De Castro held the position of Director of Digital Marketing at easyMarkets, one of the longest established retail brokerages in Cyprus, having been a major influential force in retail FX since 2003, and a development ground for a vast number of FX industry professionals who are now employed at other firms.
Joining easyMarkets in 2014 after a brief stint at LiteForex, Mr De Castro was Head of Marketing at Liquid Markets for a year and a half, leaving the firm in January 2014, a year prior to Liquid Markets having become insolvent following the Swiss National Bank’s decision in January 2015 to remove the peg on the EURCHF pair, creating an irresolvable exposure to negative client balances.
Mr De Castro spent a year and a half at easyMarkets (at the time easyForex) as his first tenure at the company, in the capacity of SEM Manager between 2011 and 2013, rejoining the company a year later after leaving Liquid Markets.
Educated at Ryerson University, Mr De Castro has a degree in Business and Information Technology.
Leading FXPRIMUS marketing strategy will be a distinct challenge, as the firm’s commercial image has been one of distinction in terms of its approach and product ranges, often aimed to engage clients in a more abstract way than is the case with other CySec regulated MetaTrader 4 based companies, as well as instilling confidence in a post-MiFID II environment.
FXPRIMUS has undergone substantial metamorphosis over the years, having moved its entire operations to Cyprus, and having waved goodbye to some very senior talent including former COO Stephen Leahy, one of North America’s most respected retail FX experts who is now head of Cryptocurrency at New York-based consultancy Shift Forex.
The firm also made prominent news last month when its booth at the vast Shanghai Money Fair was left derelict after an altercation with clients saw the early retraction from the expedition by FXPRIMUS representatives, the company having spoken to FinanceFeeds exclusively about the incident at the time.
Marketing within the fiercely competitive Cyprus based retail sector is as competitive as ever, and with value propositions being a very big consideration, as well as costs of acquisition and retention, this is a position and challenge not to be taken lightly.
