Nicolas Shamtanis leaves easyMarkets after 12 years for APAC leadership at EXNESS

These days, much opportunity presents itself within the Asia Pacific region, and the electronic trading business is absolutely no exception.

Many successful companies have garnered substantial client bases and experienced vast sustainable growth by developing a brand reputation and presence in South East Asia and China, and in 2019, the dichotomy between the market stagnation, outmodedness and regulatory purging within the European ‘old world’ and the dynamicism and infrastructure development in Asia is evident and is as clear as the numbers on the balance sheets of Australian brokers with roaring profits compared to British ones which are licking their wounds.

Such a continued progression is enough to sway even the most dedicated corporate stalwarts, and as this week begins, one of the longest-serving members of senior staff at a retail brokerage makes his move, with eyes looking East.

Nicolas Shamtanis, who joined evergreen retail FX brokerage easyMarkets (then easyForex) almost 12 years ago, has left the company’s Limassol-based head office, commencing the new year with a senior position at EXNESS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

EXNESS has become something of a powerhouse recently, the company’s early entry into mainland China some ten years ago having stood it in very good stead for pragmatic growth. Even as long ago as 2009, a trip to any large scale introducing brokerage (IB) office across all second tier towns in the People’s Republic would reveal a very strong partnership with EXNESS which has led to it being the third most popular brand with IBs in China after Saxo Bank and FXCM.

Ten years ago, EXNESS was competing with exalted company such as FXSolutions, whose client base was acquired by GAIN Capital in 2013, and continues to hold its own, having branched out of China into nearby free market areas within South East Asia to great achievement.

Mr Shamtanis today joins EXNESS as Chief Sales Officer for the company’s South East Asia division in Kuala Lumpur, a very important region for the company.

Whilst it is very much the norm for committed professionals in the FX industry to make inter-industry moves, Mr Shamtanis is recognized as an industry figure who has defined the sales and customer experience direction of one particular company for his entire career. In June 2007, he joined easyMarkets as a Senior Dealer, which, after three years saw him become Dealing Room Manager in 2010 until 2013.

In September 2013, Mr Shamtanis became Chief Business Development Officer, a time at which he was also responsible for leading the Sales and Retention division of the company, majoring on specific aspects of the company’s product range including the unique dealCancellation solution.

On its launch in 2016, Mr Shamtanis explained to FinanceFeeds

Even with all the technical and fundamental analysis, it can be difficult to predict accurately how an earnings report or central bank announcement might turn out and how the markets could react. These uncertainties can be enough to discourage a trader from trying to grab pips off a top-tier market event, thereby preventing him from taking advantage of profit opportunities as well” – Nicolas Shamtanis

Educated at the Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm in Germany, Mr Shamtanis is multi-lingual and has a global view on the FX industry, having worked closely throughout his career with easyMarkets’ expertise in the APAC region having originated from 2003, when the company was actually the first retail FX brokerage to establish operations in mainland China, five years before Mr Shamtanis joined the company.

During his tenure at easyMarkets, Mr Shamtanis made the journey to the APAC region on several occasions to develop business with strategic partners in the region, a specific process that is now vitally important as the region gains even greater traction.

Photograph: Nicolas Shamtanis presents to strategic partners in Kuala Lumpur at FinanceFeeds excluive IB symposium, March 2018