Longstanding quality meets up to date image: We speak to Sucden Financial

It is often considered that the electronic trading industry, especially at business-to-business (B2B) level, treads a very distinct line between conservatism and innovation.

On one hand, long established, highly well capitalized companies are revered as bastions of excellence, stability and technological might, however on the other hand, modernity and the ability to maintain pace with the ever evolving scope of the electronic financial services industry is vital.
Getting this balance right is vital, and for one particular company which has been in operation since 1973, and has vast expertise in commodities trading, as well as being a stalwart in FX liquidity provision to retail brokerages globally, the move toward a new brand identity just two months ago was a considered step, not to be taken lightly at all.

This particular company is Sucden Financial, whose origins date back to the mid-1970s, with its remit today encompassing opportunities across FX, fixed income and commodities, providing agile tailored solutions that attract clients from around the world. With ever-changing markets and trading environments, the firm has committed to investment in the latest technology to ensure clients have cutting-edge execution and post-trade solutions.
Thus, in March, Sucden Financial announced the launch of its new brand identity, with a redesigned logo and website.

Today, FinanceFeeds spoke to senior executives at Sucden Financial here in London with regard to the rationale behind the new brand, and what the company looks toward in the immediate future.

“We are now two months on following the launch of our new brand identity just before lockdown, we have received great feedback from our clients and beyond” said the company’s panel of executives.

Speaking to Marc Bailey, CEO of Sucden Financial, FinanceFeeds went into greater detail.

In terms of what the new brand says about the company, Mr Bailey explained “As a company with a long and rich heritage in soft commodities and brokerage services, we wanted to update our image to better reflect the diversified business we are today. Our new brand better represents our position as a leading global multi-asset, execution, clearing and liquidity provider.”

“We are traditional in our approach with a contemporary edge – a proven track record with our expert teams delivering innovative solutions, engineering opportunities for our clients across the globe” continued Mr Bailey.

“Our experience and agility have ensured we have been able to ride the coronavirus roller coaster and move our entire office to remote working, continuing with our business in the ‘new normal’ way” he said.

In terms of facing the all-important FX brokerage sector, FinanceFeeds spoke to Kirsty Gillies, Global Head of eFX Sales, to look at how the new image and identity will combine long established values and give modernity and stability to customers.

“I believe our new brand identity better reflects breadth of the global Sucden Financial product offering. Within the FX business alone, we offer the full suite of products ranging from spot/fwd/swap to Options and Deliverable, all of which complements our long term commodity and precious metals strengths” said Ms Gillies.

“We see ourselves as “opportunity engineers”. At Sucden Financial, we are both large enough to benefit from close and trusted relationships with our LPs yet small enough to give each of our clients a truly dedicated and customised service, be that for non-bank e-FX liquidity, connectivity or credit intermediation. We work with all our clients to tailor our offering to their requirements and it is this that really sets us apart from our competition. In addition, as a 100% STP riskless principal, we are fully aligned with our client’s interests and motivated to create for them the optimum trading environment” – Kirsty Gillies, Global Head of eFX Sales, Sucden Financial

“The challenges within the industry and world globally mean that sadly I do predict consolidation of other non-bank liquidity providers. As a top tier counterparty with a strong balance sheet and a diverse client base, we are well-positioned to be able to deliver and build upon the high quality of service our clients have come to associate with Sucden Financial across all products” concluded Ms Gillies.

Sucden Financial has headquarters in London, with offices in Moscow and subsidiaries Hong Kong and New York, hence the need to service a global audience in the most effective method possible.

Keeping a toehold in the very upper echelons of the liquidity provision sector is no mean feat, and certainly requires tenacity.