Urgency in the trading industry. Is it impatience or a key to success? deVere Bank CEO Nigel Green debates

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” – Henry Ford

\A sense of urgency pervades the FX and multi asset trading industry across all sectors, which has propelled it to massive global prominence due to the entrepreneurial spirit combined with conservative corporate nature that underpins it.

The retail FX business is particularly a case in point. Suited professionalism is absolutely prominent at all levels and omnipresent at the ever increasing number of FX industry conferences globally, however the business-focused sensibility is massively complemented by a deep rooted culture of entrepreneurism and urgency.

The urgency has come about for many reasons, those being the electronic software-based platform that the backbone of the business relies on and the need to enhance continually to meet the needs of traders who, ultimately, are looking to hone their skills for greater profit which in turn dictates the honing of trading infrastructure, along with the cost-driven value proposition that has driven profit margins down via equally entrepreneur-led competition.

For those on the same platform, notably MetaTrader 4, greater thought leadership is needed to differentiate the number of brokerages that appear to offer similar product ranges from each other, yet those providing proprietary platforms have the cognitive and commercial resources to simply lead the way forward, and are doing so of their own accord.

Add to this the ‘virtual product’ nature of the business in which trades are made on the spot and continual new business needs to be onboarded because it is a real time business, and urgency becomes a major factor.

Urgency, however, has proven counterproductive in certain industries. Renowned entrepreneur and visionary Henry Ford once said “A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one” when referring to the need for specific industry sectors to encourage rapid yet disruptive development. In the same vain, Ford also said “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.”

Words of wisdom indeed.

This week, Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Bank, itself relatively entrepreneurial for a British institution that has a traditional origin, put his own personal perspective forward about the attributes of urgency and whether it is simply impatience, or a vital component in the success of individuals and companies in financial services organizations.

deVere’s customer onboarding record is one to be lauded, with $10 billion under advice from over 80,000 clients in 100 countries.

Mr Green, who has been with deVere for 15 years and is based in the United Arab Emirates, began by explaining “I would like to set out the three things that fuel urgency, which in turn empowers us to reach our goals and realize the importance of every day.”

From a trader or investor point of view, Mr Green considers urgency to be somewhat lacking, yet the need for it to be present. “We have to get urgency into ourselves but also into our clients. The funny thing in our business is that everyone wants money for the future and everyone needs money for the future but very few people want to actually do something about it today” he said.

“It is not just our clients that need to get urgency, and do something for their future. The reality is that the same applies to every one of us. We need to be successful and and want to be. Who wants to live in an inferior condition? We need to be successful for our own self worth but it is important to realize the importance of every single day.

“What is going to drive your urgency? In my office, there are three things that drive urgency. The first is desire. People who want to achieve something then they have a massive desire so they will keep progressing. The second aspect is that some people do things not because they want something but because they are scared of losing something. Maybe they do not have enough money and need to earn more. Maybe they are in a poor situation and they realize that because of their lack of financial mobility they have to do something quickly but it is very easy for many people in those circumstances to be urgent and rectify it” – Nigel Green, CEO, deVere Bank

“The third situation that creates urgency is when literally the boss is on your back and is trying to make sure that you achieve and he is pushing you. My opinion is that a well managed office has got a good manager that creates an environment where it is easy for you to motivate yourself without making it feel as though it is a pressurized stand off between hierarchical levels and will do things to empower in a positive way whilst still checking things and is able to give you a little shove in the right direction” said Mr Green.

“Quite honestly I would not want any employees to be the type of person that needs their manager pushing them, and I dont want anyone to be the type of person who needs to do it out of desperation. Instead I prefer to encourage the type of person who wants to achieve because of self-directed big goals. Strong desire leads to strong results” he said.

“Urgency? Is it the secret to success? I would certainly say that it is one of them” he concluded.

In conclusion, it is clear that in some of the smaller entities in the retail sector in less globally recognized centers could do well by continuing to emulate the institutional business in order to maintain that sense of urgency and innovation but to do so whilst empowering employees and to do so in a structured manner.

Quite simply, in the electronic trading business, commercial success can be almost instantaneous as long as the structure of the business is bona fide and the will to do things properly is instilled in those driving the business forward.