Q&A Sessions with Arthur Le, CEO of Juno Markets

As the next installment in this exciting and cutting edge series on FinanceFeeds, “Industry Influencers” takes a look at the entrepreneurs and companies which are making great steps in the FX and electronic trading industry in terms of innovation, creativity and leadership.

In keeping with the ethos of providing insight into the leadership within electronic trading, FinanceFeeds sits down with the CEOs of this industry to find out more about them, how they got where they are today and what their thoughts are on the way that this business will move forward.

Full name: Arthur Le

Company: Juno Markets

Time with company: 3 years

Years in the industry: 12

City of residence: Hong Kong

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a native Californian who grew up on both coasts of the US. My first experience in Asia as well as FX was during university when I spent a semester studying in economics in Japan. It was there that I discovered the impact FX had on my purchasing power.

My dollars were worth a lot more Yen when I first arrived than after a few months.  In other words, my dollars had gotten weaker. Eventually I landed a job at one of the top FX brokers in the US and moved to Hong Kong in 2009 where I continued leading various FX firms until my partner and I decided to launch our own Asia focused brokerage in 2014.

What was your journey like to get to where you are today?

I started my FX career in 2005 working as a FX broker on Wall Street and San Francisco.

I always knew from a young age I wanted to move to Asia and finally got my chance in 2009, when I relocated to Hong Kong to cover Southeast Asia institutional clients for a leading FX firm.  I then took an opportunity to lead the Asia Pacific MT4 efforts of a Danish bank before moving to the technology side where I established the Asia presence for an Israel based FX tech company.

It was through these experiences, both professionally and living in Asia that I felt there was a need for a brokerage that could fluidly bridge the gap between East and West.  After countless discussions and brainstorming sessions with Morten, my business partner and fellow industry veteran, we decided to raise funding through institutional investors and founded Juno Markets.

What are some of the things you enjoy outside of work?

I don’t believe you can call it “work” when it’s your own company, especially since I’m passionate about what we’re doing.  However, I’ve always been competitive in nature so I enjoy playing sports.  Aside from that, I’m a proud father of two kids, ages 2 and 5 months which keeps me busy whenever I’m not at the office.

One word that describes you

Persistent

What was your biggest challenge to date that you’ve had to overcome?

Starting your own company is never easy, especially in a competitive market like ours.  Convincing clients and partners to share in our vision was our biggest challenge to date.  Luckily, with the hard work from our dedicated team and truly providing what we believe to be an outstanding product, this challenge has become easier through the years.

What are your thoughts on where the industry is heading?

We believe there will be a consolidation of firms in the industry as margins start to become lower and barriers of entry get higher.  We are very optimistic on the potential of Asia and the growth and sophistication of the client base in the region.  Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed more efficient trading technology and an overall acceptance of FX as an investable asset class for the retail market. In a few years, the majority of trades will be done through your mobile device and will be automated.

What will Juno Markets look like in five years? Is there anything new and exciting coming in the near future?

Our company vision from day one is to become the preferred broker of choice for all partners and traders in the Asia Pacific region.

We want Juno Markets to be considered whenever a client decides to open an FX trading account.  Everyday we come to work thinking about how we can achieve this goal.  On the reputation side, we have made our first steps towards obtaining a UK FCA license and have recently registered Juno Markets UK.

We are investing into technology, especially on the data front where we hope to be able to share proprietary information to our clients to improve their trading and to our partners to help them grow their business.