Game Changers issue 17

ISSUE #17

AWESOME ALBINA Albina Zhdanova speaks exclusively to Game Changers.

GAME CHANGERS

DIRECTORY O1

Note from the editor

O2

Raj Reddy

O3

Albina Zhdanova

O4

Andrew Saks-McLeod

O5

London iFX Expo

O6

Joao Monteiro

O7

Simon Roberts

View from the top. 03

Fidelis Capital Markets. 04-05

Tools For Brokers. 06-07

Finance Feeds Presents The Sydney Cup. 08-10

November 2018. 11-13

4XCUBE. 14-15

SCP Consultants. 16-18

VIEW FROM THE TOP

As the year draws to an end and we prepare to go full swing into the end of year festivities, it is a great time to take stock of the year and see how far we have all come since this time last year.

For this publication it has been a huge 12 months with it becoming more established, and the new rebranding which we are about to complete which will really compliment the hard work we have put in over the past couple of years.

This last few weeks have been some of the busiest of the year culminating in the iFX Expo in London and the Sydney Cup held in Australia. Two great events that offer you access to the apex of the industry.

This month we have both new entrants and old attendees alike, with the amazing Albina Zhdanova from Tools For Brokers as our cover star. Their institution now holds the record for number of appearances on the front cover of GC, which is something I feel is a reflection of their product.

The other participants this month include a regular visitor to this parish, Raj Reddy who is always great to speak with. Moreover, my good friend Andrew Saks McLeod who gives us insight into his fantastic Sydney Cup event.

Industry stalwart Joao Montiero gave us some of his valuable time to discuss his new venture called 4xcube. It is great to see him going out on his own to stake his claim in the market.

Last but in no way least we have your pictures that you DM’s us from the iFX Expo in London. We always love to see your content, and we look forward to seeing it for the HK expo in January.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed over the past 12 amazing months, it really is about teamwork between ourselves and everyone involved in the production of the content.

Happy Christmas and let’s change the game together!

Paul ORFORD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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Fidelis Capital Markets RAJ REDDY Chief Representative Officer of Fidelis Capital Markets.

Q Hello Raj, many thanks for returning to Game Changers. As a veteran of our publication it is always great to have you return. You can help the readers learn more about some of the huge new updates to Fidelis Capital Markets. I saw that they have now integrated MT5 to your offering, what were the motivating factors for this?

Thank you very much Paul. Yeah.. there are huge updates at Fidelis Capital Markets recently. The big factor here is the Introduction of MT5 to our clients. We want our traders to have access to advanced technological developments to enhance their trading in a better way with new features available to trade on the trading platform. As MT5 offers a lot of advantages to the traders from charting, orders, exposure of risk, etc.

Very simple and Very efficient for the traders to have this Insurance cover to their trades.

Q What has the interest been like on this?

Actually this interest is shown from our trading community, as we are always open to listen to our traders and offer what they want. In the process we introduced this program to make their trading even better trading with us.

Q One thing that always struck me about Fidelis Capital Markets is that you are always incredibly customer centric. What are the cornerstones in your rapid growth?

At Fidelis Capital Markets we believe in providing great value to the traders, so they can have better experience & have the technology on their hands on what they are expecting.

We are happy to serve our clients, as we believe customer is the king. So we always listen to the feedback that clients drop & constantly learn and evolve from it. This approach definitely gave us great growth in progressing forward.

Q Will you still be supporting the ever popular MT4?

Simple strategy of listening to the customer and provide the service what customer is looking for made us grow quite significantly.

Yes. We will still continue offering MT4 to our clients who like to continue trading on MT4. For us is to give feasibility to the trader & let them be comfortable on their choice.

Q One service that always intrigued me was your trade insurance program. Can you elaborate more on this? It seems a very unique offering?

Trade Insurance is an unique program which we introduced around MT5. We are building a ecosystem around MT5 to offer more value to the traders. As a part of the mission, we want to make trading as enjoyable as possible to the trader.

One things that we thought about is to minimize the risk at the traders end. We believe the Trade Insurance program will decrease the risk to the trader & will definitely improve trading experience.

Q One other thing that caught my eye was that you are offering a $2 USD flat fee. Can you tell us more about this?

As mentioned previously that we are creating a ecosystem around MT5, inline with that we created a HERO account type that is only available on MT5. Uniqueness of this account is that the traders will pay a FLAT FEE of 2 USD per transaction.

Normally it is charged by the lot size. By this account type traders can actually save a lot of cost.

Trader can trade up to 100 Standard lots in a single transaction with only 2 USD as the fee, which is quite low compared to the regular cost which they will be paying. So with this they can say Goodbye to Hefty Brokerage costs.

Insurance program works with few simple steps, 1. Trader needs to pay a small insurance fee while opening a trade. This fee is calculated and shown to the trader at live marketing conditions. This is calculated dynamically.

2. If they agree to it, the trade will be insured as per the terms.

3. Losses will be covered upto 10 times the insurance amount.

Q Having seen Fidelis Capital Markets make huge inroads into the traders conscience over the past several years, what’s the plans for next year’s push?

Our plans for the next year is to build better ecosystem around MT5, which can improve experience and cost effectiveness to the traders. We have more to follow. As of now we introduced Trade Insurance & 2USD Flat Fee account type on MT5 ecosystem.

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Tools For Brokers ALBINA ZHDANOVA COO of Tools For Brokers

Q We are really pleased to have you back in Game Changers as one of the original interviewees. Can you tell the readers what has changed for Tools For Brokers in the 2 years since you first appeared in Game Changers?

Hi there and it’s a pleasure to be back here, thanks for the invitation. Tools For Brokers is a company that is continuously growing, and many developments happen all the time. Despite internal changes, we’ve established our presence in Cyprus well, relocating all our sales team there. We’ve also opened an office in Bangkok. We have more people in the development team, our support team has established an excellent reputation, and we’ve opened our Client Care department. So a lot of things are going on, and we work hard to be better every day.

Q Based on the feedback I have received, Tools For Brokers had a great booth at the London Expo. How do you feel you did there?

The results of an expo are almost always seen 3-6 months afterwards. My personal goal was to show that Tools For Brokers has changed. We have a new design, and we have a new approach, new great products and even the people everyone used to see have a new attitude. I think we’ve achieved our goals for the summit. We had a lot of good meetings and new connections: let’s see in the next three months how it will play out.

Q There has been a lot of talk regarding your bridge and your new PAMM system. Can you tell us more about it?

Those are the two essential products for brokers. With the PAMM system, brokers can aim at professional traders and investors. That attitude brings brokers to a new level of business, and we’re providing software to make this process straightforward and successful. With the bridge, brokers can provide the best trading experience to their clients, being connected to several liquidity providers using a smart routing system and generating reports for regulators.

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Albina Zhdanova COO of Tools For Brokers

Q What are the key selling points to set it apart from all of your competition?

Technology is developing rapidly, and our view is that software should help brokers, not require 2-3 people from their staff to support it and spend months to understand how to use it. We’re making software intuitive and helpful, and with our products, clients can cover all their needs, from solving everyday routine tasks to complex integration and customised developments. It’s this responsiveness and user-friendliness that sets us apart.

Q In the new year, we have the Hong Kong Expo. Will Tools For Brokers be attending this?

Yes, of course, we’re going to be there, and I think I’m going to be on the panel discussion there. For each expo, we’re preparing updates and new releases, and the Hong Kong Expo is known to be one of the most productive. You can always meet new people there, and there’s no doubt that the SEA market is the booming one today.

Q I read a lot of PR that you have opened a new Bangkok office. What made you choose this location?

You’ve probably heard that the Chinese market is facing some problems now with regulation. Even though the first companies to suffer were payment providers, in general activity, there has nearly stopped, and many of our clients have relocated to Bangkok themselves.

That’s really what made us decide that Bangkok would be a good choice: it’s close to China with flights every hour, it’s close to the rest of Asia, and it also has a fantastic airport that’s globally connected. Many ask us why not Malaysia or Singapore, here are the answers: Malaysia is a good location for the retail aspect of brokerage, not so much for B2B, while Singapore is more focused on large institutional operations. We see Bangkok as an ideal option in the long term.

Q With the Limassol office going from strength to strength, what plans do you have for 2019?

The Limassol office was one of our best decisions, and we immediately saw the positive outcome of it. Our plan in 2019 is to set up an office in the UK: we see a demand for it from the London Expo, and we also feel how important it is to be close to our partners and clients, us being there when they need us with proper feedback at every step. With the current high level of competition, this is an essential step.

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Finance Feeds Presents - The Sydney Cup. ANDREW SAKS-MCLEOD. CEO of Finance Feeds – Sydney Cup.

Q Thanks for appearing in this issue, as one of the industry’s most frequent flyers it is great to have you appear again. Can you tell the readers about your most recent trip to Sydney, and your Blue Riband event ‘The Sydney Cup.’ Hi Paul, thank you very much indeed, great to be here again. Our Sydney event follows our flagship series of networking events for the FX and multi-asset electronic trading industry, however I would certainly say that due to Australia’s unique position as a nation with a very well respected business ethic and highly talented leadership within the modern financial markets sector combined with its proximity and commercial and demographic relationship with very important centers in the Asia Pacific region, this is the key networking event worldwide.

Australia’s retail sector is particularly of interest. Whilst there has been a downturn in many other regulated markets and a lot of soul searching is required in terms of rebuilding business from affiliate/lead marketing backgrounds and less sustainable methods of attaining clients, Australia has the benefit of being a country

GAME CHANGERS Issue #17

steeped in commodities trading history and has a top quality banking and regulatory environment because of that. which in turn understands our industry welll and uses applied computer science technology to monitor the conduct of retail order flow management and brokerage behavior whilst still allowing 500:1 leverage which is what many clients in the APAC region want. With Singapore fast becoming a massive clearing and insitutional market making center and a willing client base across the region, Australia’s Western-face-in-Asia will serve it well.

Q The Cup events have become very popular in the key locations for FX being held in London, Limassol and Sydney. How did you come up with the idea?

For a very long time I have held the opinion that there are very limited opportunities for all sectors of the FX industry to get together and actually develop business within an exclusive environment with low entry barriers and no bombardment with sales pitches from similar firms. The Cup series removes the barrier of the booth and allows technology vendors, brokerages, liquidity

Q Does it give you better exposure as a brand if you are looking to sponsor as opposed to an expo booth?

providers and ancillary service firms such as bridge and liquidity management companies to interact with each other and actually forge business partnerships that genuinely fit their requirements and drive their business forward. I have spent 27 years in what is effectively a technology-led business, hence most inter-vendor relationships have traditionally been conducted via email or via a faceless website, whereas now every executive in the industry knows each other personally so I would like to think that this series provides a cost-effecitive and tailored means for our industry to evolve and develop via all firms in all sectors being able to spend time meeting and evolving their products according to what is available from each vendor when it is done on a personal level. So far we have done 18 Cup events in major FX industry centers, and will continue to major on that in 2019.

Sponsoring expo booths has become a de-facto means of showing the rest of the industry that a brand or product is still very much an active part of the market, however it is really just that - a very expensive and limited branding experience which only displays to those who also sponsor booths, which is a very narrow cross section of this industry. By taking a wider view and not getting into a race for indoor prominence with the perhaps 20 to 30 other booth sponsors that are part of a small and in some respects very much exhausted network. I often ask what actual value comes from booth sponsorship and really it is a case of branding rather than ROI but the question should be who is this branding visible to? New methods that are cheaper and cast the net wider are needed and therefore I would say exposure should equal actual meeting opportunities with global partners and the real opportunity to do business rather than having a static booth.

Q I remember the first event in Limassol. Do the other events differ in how they are produced?

The events follow the similar format, in which the main objective is to facilitate an unlimited meeting opportunity.

Whilst there is always a keynote speech, the subject should be engaging rather than totally advertorial and should be an insight into important current affairs in the industry.

The majority of the event should be dedicated to exclusive networking opportunities.

Q What makes it different to attending an expo?

Expos have their place but in many ways are very expensive and in some respects passe. There are so many of them especially in the APAC region these days and most are centered around vendors selling to vendors (not a good match) and brokers selling to brokers (equally not a good match) and have stagnated, often degenerating into huge holes in marketing budgets for already strapped retail brokerages who then find themselves mulling over the same subjects as several years ago with the same limited panel contributors and very little opportunity for actual ROI. This is a highly dynamic and fast moving business, so we need to be able to offer firms a quick, classy platform to meet other relevant potential commercial partners without the over the top and rather gauche displays of decadence that has now begun to dominate some of the expo arenas. In short, this is a very effective and professional means of getting those critical relationships done.

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accessible than if a partners department calls introducing brokers from abroad. Presenting in good surroundings to a discerning audience who are used to having to meet face to face with their provider goes a long way toward attracting long term business from critically important partners that other firms would be discounted from on the basis that meeting and presenting a full product range provided by a Western brokerage goes a long way in the APAC region as far as trust and credibility is concerned.

Q What do you think will be the big stories for 2019?

Q Are you ever going to extend this to other locations?

It is possible - I think institutional and Tier 1 prime brokerage events can be held in SIngapore, and as the retail sector looks for other very good regions with top quality regulators and banks, and good quality infrastructure, South Africa is very much on our agenda.

Q Finance Feeds is viewed as the premier name for institutional news. How do you keep such a high standard?

It is a constant refining exercise to ensure good quality research that is important to all participants in this industry from which business leaders can form important decisions, and proper business opportunities for all. Ensuring good research is provided is a very detailed and resource-hungry process but I am of the unfaltering opinion that it is absolutely necessary for the innovation and continued sustainability of our business environment. In short, I love this industry, and want it to develop and prosper, therefore investing the right resources into quality research and business information is vital. We will continue to expand on this as time goes on.

Q I really enjoyed attending your bespoke IB events that you held in Asia. Are these country specific and how can they help my brand?

Bespoke events in Asia are still very much a vital component, as offline relationships are critical for retail brokers wanting to forge partnerships with networks of portfolio managers and introducing brokers in that region.

We continue to value the importance of this and by holding a one day seminar with key executives of partners that are responsible for large retail portfolios that are often traded automatically by the introducing broker, attaining business for the long term is much more

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The tax man will get us and we will all implode !. Not really.... I see consolidation in the Cyprus markets, the big firms will prosper and expand to other regions to serve their international clients, and the Australians will go from strength to strength as we are now seeing. There is a massive dichotomy between the woes that some of the established London firms with 30 year established businesses and public listings have suffered, along with the smaller firms in Cyprus having to rethink their model after several years of non-committal leasing of a totally off the shelf platform, no intellectual property and a lead-sourcing method that involves over 150 firms all vying for the same recycled databases. Meanwhile Australian firms are racing ahead in terms of revenues. This will continue and many firms will go either the hard yards and invest in their own infrastructure and licensing in multiple regulated jurisdictions to support a new client base, or they will unfortunately take the cheap option and go offshore so that they can offer outlandish trading terms to their existing clients, none of whom are in Europe anyway. In short, quality and substance will win long term.

London iFX Expo NOVEMBER 2018.

As the year draws to an end one of the industries most renowned expos is held in London for retail and institutional FX. Seen as one of the leading events in Europe, the iFX expo has a solid attendance ranging from the local eco system to mixing with some of the largest global names.

Here are the pictures sent in by the Game Changers readers who attended the event.

Enjoy!

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4XCUBE JOAO MONTEIRO Founder of 4XCUBE

Q First of all congratulations on the opening your own brokerage 4X Cube, you must be incredibly happy to have your own business.

Thank you Paul for the opportunity given.

I would say that I’m extremely excited to start this venture.

4xCube is the result of many years of interaction with professional traders, investors and even people from the industry that were permanently looking for something user friendly, affordable and most of all, trustworthy.

People who know me well, know that If I start something, I rather do it properly.

I had this dream for a long time, and this year I had the opportunity to create something which encompassed my ideas with the understanding of what clients and the market needed.

We have a great experienced Team and once that is in place, everything becomes easier.

Q You have been in the finance industry for over 10 years. How did you start off in FX? My academic background is in Management and Business Administration, with Masters obtained in Portugal and UK. I´ve started my career in the Banking Industry in Portugal, where I was handling all kind of investment products from Interest Rate Deposits, Investment Funds, Bonds, FX, Insurance, etc.

Joao Monteiro Founder of 4XCUBE

Furthermore, I have been trading for myself since I was young.

Q Is there much of a retail market in Portugal?

Back to 2012 I had an opportunity to move to Cyprus and to work in the FX industry, and that changed my life. I worked for big players in the industry, I’ve moved to London after some time, and currently with the new project I have been travelling nonstop in the past months.

Q What made you move from Portugal to Cyprus?

I would say the possibility to be closer to the Experts in the field, and to learn from the biggest FX companies in the industry.

The geographic location was also a plus.

GAME CHANGERS Issue #17

The fact of myself being Portuguese and to have worked in the financial sector there, opened me a lot of doors in the past, especially with institutional investors.

As for the retail market, I would say that the Portuguese investor is generally very traditional, and very careful when to choose their investments.

Due to some recent problems in the Banking Sector back to 2015, the retail investor decided to search for alternative investments, and to be more proactive in that concern.

We are not allowed to target European investors as you know, but as in any business for clients it is all a matter of trust.

Q Does this also extend to Brazil?

Brazil is a similar story, as FX cannot be solicited due to strict restrictions from the Brazilian authorities (CVM).

They have big admiration for UK based Brokers but due to the recent limitations on the Leverage side, they started looking for alternatives and there’s where offshore broker come to equation.

Q You have a regulation in the Cook Islands. Why did you choose this? Are there specific advantages?

As a matter of fact, we wanted to be different and unique.

For all these years I saw practically all Brokers trying to copy each other, comparing each other’s offering and I think the market needed a more easy-going solution.

Cook Islands was an offshore jurisdiction that didn’t have any bad remarks.

The process took us more than 1 year to be completed, and it was not as easy as people may think. Full disclosure of the shareholders and directors as well as extensive background checks were necessary. The company is under constant supervision by the regulator (Financial Services Commission).

4xCube has a physical presence in the Cook Islands, and company’s accounts are audited by BDO which as you are aware is an internationally renowned and reputable accounting and auditing firm.

Joao Monteiro Founder of 4XCUBE

I would say the main advantage is clearly the possibility to offer higher leverage to all our clients.

All the rest is more or less aligned by the code of practice of any European regulator.

Q Without sounding disrespectful, there are many new brokerages opening every day. What makes 4x Cube so different?

4xCube tries to understand each client’s needs.

Not only offering some of tightest spreads in the industry for retail investors (if not the tightest), higher leverage than our EU counterparts, combined with a great customer service and useful trading tools that can help you trade better.

On the Partner’s side of business, we have the most flexible partnership plan in the industry.

Q What are your plans for 2019?

We want to have a solid and steady growth in 2019. We are aware of our limitations, but we are even more aware of our advantages and what we can bring to the market that is not easy to find out there.

I truly believe that when you launch something with good intentions and for the best of your client’s interest, sooner or later the business will flourish. We are here to stay.

SCP Consultants SIMON ROBERTS CEO & Founder of SCP Consultants

Hello Simon, thanks for taking the time to speak with us.

In case the readers are not aware, you have a huge amount of experience in FX and the City.

Q Can you tell us how you became part of the industry?

Thank you Paul. Yes I’ve been involved in financial markets after leaving the British Army as an officer back in ’91.

I was stationed in Germany and due to a relationship decided to try and stay ‘in country’ and was lucky enough to get a job at what is now HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt (TuB) . I started off in the controlling department doing cost line translations between the merchant bank (TuB) and the Midland Bank Group (as it was known back then). But number crunching wasn’t really my bag and I managed to talk my way on to the dealing floor starting off as a trainee equity derivates trader and eventually becoming a market maker for Alliance and Mannesman on the Deutsche Termin Bourse (now Eurex). However after about a year it was evident I wasn’t going to make the bank rich and was shown the door :) It was from here that my broking career kicked off. I was a ‘hot’ commodity as I spoke reasonably good German and knew a fair few fellow traders in the market. I was approached by several London based brokerages who were either already active in the German market or who were desperate to grab a piece of the pie and in those days the OTC pie was very big indeed. After a few dalliances with lesser known names I ended up with Tradition in their Frankfurt office where we broked anything that moved in the German and Swiss markets. They were great times and my rolodex of contacts continued to expand at a hell of a fast rate. It was also at this time I realised that I wanted to monetize my own efforts for myself and after some research culminated in starting my own brokerage Kappa Financial Services – firstly in Frankfurt but eventually in London. These were without question the best and most profitable years of my career – it was hard work but a lot of fun – there were no restrictions on entertaining (now you can’t do it since the introduction of ‘payment for order-flow’) and boy did the clients love to be entertained!

We continued to grow at Kappa and without wanting to sound arrogant probably became the ‘go-to-house’

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Simon Roberts CEO & Founder of SCP Consultants

if you wanted to trade something OTC in the German marketplace. This didn’t go un-noticed and we received a good few offers to acquire the business – one of which we eventually accepted and we sold Kappa to a South African concern who were already broking interest rates out of London. In hindsight it was probably the worst trade I ever did – I hated to let my baby go but the dollar signs just grew in my eyes :) - but that’s a long time ago and there’s no point in crying over split milk.

After a short break from the market re-charging the batteries I was hired by Investec UK to run their European Equity sales desk – it was a short lived affair and I was desperate to have another crack at running my own shop again.

This I did with my old boss from Investec and we created Lakeview Capital Markets. However having experienced the crisis of 2008 it was clear the markets were never going to be the same again and we plodded on trying to relive the dream. We made some good money but nothing like the levels of the Kappa days.

After 7 or so years I realised that I need to move into another segment of the industry and start again. Through a mutual contact I was introduced to an investor who wanted to set up an FX / CFD brokerage which resulted in the authorisation by the FCA of Fortrade. It was a very steep learning curve for me and although I’d always run the compliance side of things in my previous business’s I was amazed at how more complex the issue was when dealing with ‘retail’ clients rather than just the institutional side.

It was because of this I realised that there was a niche in the marketplace where the combination of my wholesale marketplace experience and my new found knowledge of FX / CFD’s could also be monetized. Hence the creation of SCP Consultants.

Q What changes have you seen since your days at HSBC? Has the profile of a trader changed over this period?

The changes have been tremendous. Technology has ad-

Simon Roberts CEO & Founder of SCP Consultants

vanced dramatically and the OTC voice broked market has been decimated. I’ve always looked up to Michael Spencer and if you follow historically what he’s done with ICAP and then NEX etc you can see the impact of the marketplace changing or perhaps best described as ‘evolving’. I know there are a few stalwarts trying to recreate the OTC game within the crypto space but to date it doesn’t seem to really getting anywhere. The secret to any good brokerage is winning order-flow and if it’s not readily forthcoming then the broker needs to & must adapt. You can’t create something out of nothing. Volume and traffic is king – you have to offer the client what he wants and keep your costs in check.

As to the ‘retail’ marketplace we all know and are living the effects of ESMA and other regulators across the globe.

Regulations seem to come at us like blizzards and the spaces within which to manoeuvre are becoming more & more limited unless you have an adaptable business model.

Q You have held some key roles in establishing retail brands in London. Do you think it is different to other regions to establish a brand?

London has always been and will remain, regardless of the impact of Brexit, a key location for doing business. It’s the geographical midpoint in the daily global trading cycle and where some $900 Bln of financial trades are settled daily.

You can’t unwind the hundreds of years of centralisation

and innovation which has occurred here in London lightly or quickly. Also the FCA is probably the lead financial regulator in the world and ‘love them or hate them’ you need accept the landscape they’ve created. London and FCA regulation is looked upon by external investors and their clients as a ‘badge of honour’ and gives a brokerage a great spring board from which to launch into other jurisdictions.

Q What do you think that it takes for a new brand to make an impression on the retail space in the UK now?

As I’ve already said adaptability is key. I don’t think a brokerage offering for example just FX will survive. I’ve heard and personally agree with the point that brokers need to offer a multi-asset approach. You have to develop products and equally important services where there’s client demand. Innovation and technology are key – the London / UK marketplace may be saturated but good new ideas and product offerings will always fly.

Q Has London priced itself out of the market as a viable proposition for a new retail brokerage to start when you take into account rental costs, staff salaries etc?

London is undoubtedly expensive but it’s always vied with New York as the top spot geographically to do business from and this won’t change. Its true staff costs are higher due to the general cost of living here but this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a deal breaker. Coming back to being innovative I think firms should explore rewarding staff vs. efforts – this could be done via bonuses defined by profitability & effort rather than wearing high fixed costs.

Q How do you the future of London in a Post-Brexit landscape?

Firstly we’ll have to see if it actually happens :) The political landscape here is bewildering. If it does happen there will hopefully be a transition period enabling businesses to evaluate & project the years to come.

However as I’ve already mentioned Brexit will not kill off London nor its importance. There will be undoubtedly be some changes and some financial sectors will feel it more than others. The true effects will take a long period to become evident and businesses will adapt over time.

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Q You are now the Managing Director of SCP Consultants. Can you tell the readers what services you offer?

SCP is a consortium of regulatory and business development specialists that work together on a project based approach. I’m the central contact point and after understanding the client’s needs I organise the necessary roadmap with delivery schedule with the relevant specialist/s.

We offer a broad spectrum of compliance advisory services as well as coming ‘in-house’ to address critical areas. We are experiencing a lot of demand in assisting firms that are looking to lowering their costs - for example in regard to such areas as KYC / AML systems and market abuse monitoring to name but a few.

We also assist new market entrants that want to become regulated here in the UK be it via a target acquisition or via a complete new application. We offer a complete service enabling the firm to hit the ground running both from a business but also a compliance perspective. We even help in finding the relevant & experienced staff members to make the concern a success.

Q Is there a specific service that appears to be a key strength for your brand?

I think it’s most definitely assisting start-ups. We’re experiencing a lot of demand from the Asia-pacific region in helping them come to the UK. As already said we can offer a bespoke package of services from start to finish of the process of becoming regulated here in the UK. Q What future plans do you have for SCP next year?

We’re already working on several exciting projects that will take us well into next year. These range from assisting new firms to become regulated, assisting in product design and deployment and even addressing the concerns of the cryto marketplace in regard to the probable forthcoming regulatory intervention – eg worries over AML risk frameworks created by the impending 5th AMLD.

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