Movers & Shakers – Luis Sanchez, Spanish, Chinese and good laughs!

 

A new year, a new era of innovation, and in the fast-moving FX industry, those at the cutting edge who are not content with simply going through the motions and emulating their peers before heading home at the end of the working day will likely reveal yet more industry-changing developments.

To give an insight into the personality, charisma and just what makes such things happen, FinanceFeeds met with some of the movers and shakers of the industry for an open and casual discussion on what the industry is likely to look like, with a splash of comedy for those who appreciate.

One of favourite industry leaders, Luis Sanchez CEO of BMFN, had us in stitches by the end of our interview. 

 

What’s new?

Last year at our annual management meeting we asked the same question and our people were surprised, looking at each other with funny and bizarre expressions. I was surprised and impressed by the amount of different answers we got.  I said to myself: WOW !!!, “definitely at BMFN everyday we face a new challenge and objective” was my first impression.

Personally it had been a long time since this question was asked to me and let me start by saying that 2015 was the best year for BMFN. We achieved nearly all of our goals across all our various office, departments and markets. So the pressure is now officially on for 2016 since we set records that now have to be beaten. Bring it on!

We have a great team of professionals that are dedicated and commitment to our success. They are BMFN

Coming back to the question: from the professional point of view: I would say that we have many different projects to develop for this year as a result of our clients, partners and IB’s requests.  On January 11th we launched a new version of our private cabinet, with new features and functionalities, including real time calculations, editable banners and partner websites.

On the other hand, and as part of our expansion, we will open an additional office in China during Q1 as well as in some new regions for BMFN. Stay tuned!

In my personal life: what’s new? I would say that my wife and I are looking to have our first baby, and hope GOD grants us this miracle this year or next!

 

Ok, so nobody is perfect. What is the biggest thing you can improve on from last year?

“Life’s just a bunch of accidents, connected by one perfect end.” At BMFN we had many accidents, obstacles, hurdles in our way through 2015 and thanks to them we were capable to improve our services and become a better broker.  We will continue working as a team with more communication, all-rowing toward the same “NORTH”.

But one of the things we will improve is to add more trading products to our platforms and develop our mobile trading capabilities further. We try to adapt to our clients needs especially in this constantly changing world.

 

Funniest thing/ incident that happened in the office last year? Any cringe / epic fail moments?

LOL, I wish you could see my facial expression now!!! We’ve had so many epic fail and funny moments that come to mind I could easily write a book!

Moving around a lot between offices, language barriers and always being on the road, you can imagine! Ill leave the best ones for over a Zacapa next time I see you.

Here’s a goody; I went to Zhengzhou, China for a business trip, all my meetings with clients and IB’s were with Alex, my colleague that speaks English, since the only words I can speak of Chinese are: Nihao and Xie Xie.

One night we had a dinner with one of our largest partners and Alex called me minutes before the dinner saying  he had an issue and he cant come. I said: Ok, no worries mate. But I was thinking how I would handle the situation due to language barriers, so guess what happened?

I arrived to the restaurant, said Nihao (hello) and sat down at the table, so far so good, and then we said Ganbei (cheers) and suddenly the food started to come and it was like a buffet and I said to myself: OMG so much food, this dinner will last hours and how will we communicate???

I took my mobile and text him via WeChat (Chinese chat, like WhatsApp that has an option for simultaneous translation). He writes me in Chinese, I hit translate, and I read it out as though I speak Chinese and vice versa. We had a great time that lasted several hours. We had a great moment and even schedule another dinner without Alex.

So it was funny: imagine people were looking at us, one Chinese and one Peruvian (with the silliest sounding Chinese with a mix of Spanish, English and all the accents that come with it) sitting at a table, having drinks, food and laughing out loud all thanks to WeChat. I told this to my wife and she was in shock and could not believe it.

There are no obstacles to do things in life as long as you really want them to be done. No excuses.

 

If we are sitting here in one year from now discussing what you as a company has achieved in 2016, what do you hope to be the big achievements?

I hope we achieved what we said we will at our annual management meeting of 2015. I know is a difficult task because even if you planed everything in a detail manner, improvising always occurs, because this is how business works and specially in our industry.

And if for any reason something was not achieved, I will feel satisfied if we gave it our best to make it happen. Receiving 110% of our team is what makes me and management satisfied. And that is and will be our biggest achievement year after year.

 

If your company morphed into a super-hero or animal in 2016; what would it be?

LOL! Too funny! I remember this question being asked when you do a psychology test at school! I know this is a trick question but I would say BMFN is like Wolverine. We can adapt to any scenario or challenge and don’t need all the limelight!