FNG Exclusive Interview… Following a 20-year career in the FX industry in London, Chris Cotterell is coming home to Australia to head B2B tech and services provider Finalto’s new Australia operation.

We thought this would be a great time to catch up with Chris and find out more about what he has planned, what the opportunities are within the Australia Retail FX broker industry, and a whole lot more. Here is what he had to say.

FNG: Hi Chris, and first of all congratulations on your new position as MD of Finalto Australia. Where do you see the major opportunities for Finalto in Australia, and the region?

Chris: Thank you. It’s exciting to be heading back to Australia to continue Finalto’s growing presence in the APAC region. I see a major opportunity for Finalto in Australia to satisfy the increased demand for tailored liquidity solutions to institutional traders and brokers.

We aim to understand how firms and sophisticated traders are currently trading and executing, or how they would like to, and work with them to achieve their goals and maximise their trading potential. Also, as retail trading continues its growth in Australia, we may see more retail specific brokers starting operations and they will need cost effective solutions in order to operate in a highly competitive and regulated industry.

FNG: You’ve been involved in trading and risk management for FX/CFD brokers for a long time. What have been the major changes in that regard over the recent “COVID” period?

Chris: You’re right I have but there are still a lot of exciting things going on in the space. I think it’s fairly obvious that COVID has made traditional office based brokers rethink their operations. Working from home, or at least flexible working, is here for the foreseeable future but that also provides increased opportunity to source top talent from anywhere rather than within a commute from an office. People spending more time at home, due to work or furlough, has increased interest in retail trading as people look for a way of investing or looking for opportunities to earn a second income.

We also saw an uptick in e-trading volume as traders abandon voice brokers in favour of more reliable execution since access to office based systems was initially a challenge.

FNG: From your perspective, what do Retail FX brokers do well, and in what areas do they as a group need to improve?

Chris: What retail brokers do well is providing easy access to global markets for every day traders.

What they don’t do so well is the operational aspects which are necessary to ensure the successful running of a brokerage. A lot are still operating from spreadsheets or multiple 3rd party tech providers which is expensive and inefficient. Our product, Finatlo360, solves a lot of the efficiency issues that these brokers face on a daily basis. We can help them improve and maximise their potential through our liquidity, risk management, CRM and trading tech solutions.

FNG: How does Finalto look to differentiate its offering to FX brokers and institutional traders?

Chris: Finalto offers sophisticated trading technology solutions and execution and the fact that we have won multiple awards for our B2B liquidity, stretching back several years, is a testament to the hard work our staff put in behind the scenes to provide clients with a best-in-class experience. Whether it be a full turnkey solution for brokers or provision of liquidity and execution, Finalto can create a bespoke service that ensures clients get the most from their trading and tech provider.

Furthermore, we offer multi asset liquidity cross margined through one margin account. This means clients can maximise their capital usage and achieve more efficient risk management.

FNG: What else can we expect to hear from you and Finalto in the coming months?

Chris: We have a lot in the pipeline at the moment. Recently we released Singaporean single stocks and introduced several NDF instruments to the portfolio but you can expect further product launches in the months ahead. Finalto is continuously adding to our product range and are focused on expanding our regional CFD offering. We are currently servicing clients through our LD4 and NY4 data centres but will have Asian pricing through a regional data centre in the near future.