Leverate’s Global Head of Sales Ben Richter moves on to lead EuropeFX’s Australian division
With seven years at FXCM’s Israel operations and two and a half years as Global Head of Sales at Leverate making up his 10 year career, Ben Richter joins Cyprus brokerage EuropeFX to head the firm’s foray into Australia
Ten years have passed since Ben Richter’s inauguration into the FX industry, and marking such a milestone is a new leadership position.
Mr Richter has been appointed Head of Australia at Cyprus retail FX brokerage EuropeFX, signaling the end of his tenure at brokerage technology provide Leverate.
Joining EuropeFX represents a return to the retail FX brokerage sector for Mr Richter, who has spent the past two and a half years at Leverate, where he commenced his tenure as Head of Institutional Sales in January 2016, being promoted to Head of Global Sales in September 2017.
An FXCM alumnus, Mr Richter joined Leverate after seven years at FXCM’s Israel operations, beginning as Sales Manager in June 2008, moving on to become Head of Institutional FX before becoming VP Sales and Operations until his departure to join Leverate in 2015.
EuropeFX, whilst registered and licenced in Cyprus, is operated by Israeli CEO Yossi Gafni, a fellow FXCM long-term executive, having spent six years at the firm between 2008 and 2014 as VP Sales at the same time as Mr Richter’s long service at FXCM. Mr Gafni’s career in FX began in 2005, when he joined AvaTrade as Head of Sales, remaining with the firm for three years before joining FXCM.
Mr Richter is a well recognized operations executive within the FX industry, and his opinion and perspective has been particularly on topic with regard to many aspects, one of which is the value proposition issue that many retail brokerages face.
An advocate of the use of refined trading platforms which give traders an ergonomic experience whilst not creating an over-complex user interface, Mr Richter has often stated that in his experience, a large percentage of traders are not looking for complex platforms as most of them are performing the same trading actions, those being simple buy and sells using some technical analysis and charts, however offering simple-to-use trading platforms that most traders like and other brokers don’t have provide the added value that is required in the face of competition.
Recognizing the lack of differentiation between many retail FX brokerages has been a point with regard to which Mr Richter has been vocal over recent times, his understanding that similar product offerings which are only distinguishable by very fierce competition with regard to spread or commission has led Mr Richter to look closely at how to retain clients via good quality engagement tools, an example being his advocacy of Leverate’s Activ8 and Optim8 products which are designed to automate the retention process and engage clients for lower acquisition costs and a longer lifetime value.
Indeed, having worked at length on such a project, Mr Richter’s remit to drive forward a Cyprus based brokerage into new market such as Australia is indeed a fitting one.
