Exclusive: Want to take your brokerage into China? This is the ready-made solution for exactly that purpose

It has been a long proven facet of the retail FX industry that China, with its wealth of large, structured introducing brokers and retail FX brokerages, is the carte d’or.

Structured and long term relationships with Chinese brokerages that take liquidity from Western prime of prime brokers, and introducing brokers that work with global retail firms to refer what is often a vast level of order flow are very much the way by which to achieve a completely future-proof business.

One of the most important means of actually establishing and creating a working infrastructural model involving Chinese partners is the ability to provide a China-centric trading system that not only appeals to the Chinese trader, but is in keeping with the methodology used inside China’s brokerages and IBs too, that being completely different from those outside China.

Brokerages in China, as well as IBs, have a specific requirement when it comes to how they maintain their client databases, and how client data must be integrated into trading platforms.

The relationship between client and brokerage or IB is very much a high-touch one in China, and the media, advertising methodology and client onboarding processes are specific to the People’s Republic, as the country has its own internet topography, as well as a unique, very social-media orientated method of providing information to clients.

For these reasons, CRM data, marketing information and trading platform interaction must all be done via interlinked, China-specific systems.

One company that understands this very well is LEANWORK, whose CEO and founder Darren Qian, has an advantage in that he has a comprehensive understanding of the methodology by which Chinese brokerages operate, and hence can marry that knowledge and technological topography with Western firms, giving them a valid reference point when approaching global business, and in particular, mainland China.

LEANWORK, which provides China-focused broker solutions, has over 150 FX brokers in China using its products, Broker Work and Trader Work, on a daily basis. Among the firm’s distinguished client list, there are not only local brands but also many western brokers who have established local presence in Asian Markets.

Taking the LEANWORK solution into an even more comprehensive dimension, the company has today entered into a partnership with Spotware Systems, the developer of the cTrader platform, in order that Chinese brokers can add the cTrader platforms more easily to help to differentiate their product offerings in the market. The successful integration has already generated large interest in China.

Speaking today to James Glyde, CCO of Spotware Systems, FinanceFeeds gained perspective on the holistic approach gained here by cTrader having partnered with a China-specific CRM and back office solutions provider for the FX industry.

“It’s actually a very useful synergy between two product complimentors and it goes a little bit further than just acting on client requests, which of course was the impetus of this cooperation. There is something more than client satisfaction for each party to gain and I’m confident we will help one another gain market share in the East and West respectively” – James Glyde, CCO, Spotware Systems

Looking at the integration, Spotware Systems is well established in Europe and Australasia, where as LEANWORK has interest in expanding its presecne to those important regions, its Chinese focus being a very attractive facet for firms in the Western markets, Australasia being a very important bridge between the APAC region and the electronic trading industry in London, Sydney and North America.

Conversely, LEANWORK is well established in China, whereas Spotware’s cTrader is less so. This partnership therefore could potentially change this position for both companies.

Simply put, Spotware has the technology for China. The company has built its proprietary technology solution to tackle the well known obstacles of running online trading services in China, and with the existing channels and integrated Chinese technological base in China, LEANWORK can take this into the mainland very easily.

Speaking recently to Darren Qian, CEO of LEANWORK in China, FinanceFeeds deduced that with a solid client base and strong product offering, LEANWORK indeed is planning to penetrate the European market. Considering there exists many CRM providers in the market, the firm has intended to provide distinguished service for foreign clients. At the initial stage, we are able to mainly provide two aspects of differentiated services for western brokers as below.

cTrader concurs that LEANWORK has the technology for Europe, hence this is a partnership that would increase end to end SaaS capability for the FX market globally with mainland China and Western markets catered for within one solution.

LEANWORK’s R&D Team has invested substantial effort in developing the WeChat Terminal and soon will launch the WeChat Terminal to both local Chinese brokers and International brokers with a WeChat Appetizer, to access and convert those 938 million users who on average spent hours daily in this APP.

The company is also one of the first batches of commercial CRM providers for FX industry. At the earlier stage, there were almost no CRM products tailored for the electronic trading business. In most cases, brokers either chose to purchase generic CRM solutions such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics, or spend lots of money to develop their own BO system.

Nevertheless, the weaknesses of these two methods cannot be ignored, largely around the long development cycle and enormous cost if the brokers decide to develop by themselves and also the specific industrial needs which can hardly be satisfied if brokers choose the very generic CRM solutions.

In contrast, a CRM customized for the foreign exchange industry can meet the specific needs of FX brokers.

Taking the LEANWORK’s Broker Work as an example, it has successfully served over 200 FX brokers and satisfy over 10000 FX professional’s daily use, as demonstrated by a recent visit to LEANWORK’s facility by FinanceFeeds.

Chinese culture appreciates the great importance of human feeling and relationships. There exists a great number of IBs in China. As a result, you need to be very trustworthy when expanding your business in China and you need to pay extra attention to build and maintain your IB and client relationship.

It is also integrated with widely used methods of transferring data to customers in China, such as an SMS verification system, VOIP System, and EDM system, and a new live Broadcast module is under testing and soon be available for brokers to use.

Mr Qian today explained today, “We are positive that this new partnership will help serve our clients better. We are excited to take this step forward as we move closer to our goal to be the leading FX CRM brand in the world. ”

With trading systems becoming far more a part of China’s infrastructure, a simple MetaTrader 4 white label license to satisfy firms using Expert Advisors will likely no longer be enough, and a fully adaptable, end to end, China-focused solution with customizable front end and full integration is likely to be the solution of choice going forward.