State your name, company name and position please:
George Popescu CEO Boston Technologies Inc
Describe your company with one word:
Innovation
Please go into detail about the Company, its market segment and recent developments:
Boston Technologies is known for it’s innovative history. It is focused on providing a complete customizable and transparent trading venue for niche trading firms.
Boston Technologies provides complete turn key solutions using its world wide ultra low-latency infrastructure network ( NY, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong) and delivers personalized customer service in multiple languages.
Boston Technologies is the inventor of the first commercial MT4 bridge and Start Your Own Brokerage(SYOB) package. It was later credited with promoting the prime of prime model to the middle market segment through its Boston Prime entity.
BT created a turnkey Back Office, Liquidity and front end solution that accommodates all possible customer needs through one command center. Our customers can use MT4 front end, FIX API or other front ends and we designed our Back Office with the strengths and limitations of the MT4 in mind. This has been expanded to incorporate all of the essential functionality necessary to run a brokerage.
The Back Office supports Japan FSA reporting as well as other different regulatory and reporting requirements and allows brokers to offer reporting to satisfy regulators as well as the needs of their customers.
Boston Technologies has been constantly growing its customer base with clients from all over the world.
How did your company arrive at the current position, and what expertise do you offer the Forex Industry:
We have been focusing on customer need and experience. We have grown the company without any capital or investment and that has made it difficult at times when we had to juggle priorities. However, this also forced us to follow the customer needs / preferences which was a very healthy and safe way to arrive at where we are today. Throughout the history of the company we have always sought partners and providers in order to try to avoid building everything ourselves. More often than not, however, as we have been unable to obtain a good product at a good price from a partner, (beginning with liquidity), we found ourselves building everything on our own. Due to this fact that we built everything ourselves, we now have much more control , flexibility and we are in a much better situation. Ultimately, this ended up being a very positive turn of events!
What specifically do you offer the retail traders?
We offer a complete package that is fully customizable and that gives them the same options that FXCM, Gain , Saxo or other large firms have for a fraction of the cost , without the accompanying headaches. Very importantly, this allows them to focus on where they add value to their clients. We also have offerings for larger brokers who already have what they need - some important components such as FIX API liquidity only, which allows them to be more competitive.
Why should retail traders choose your company instead of others?
We don’t deal with retail traders. However, Brokers receive a much higher quality of service from us. We are STP so there is no conflict of interest. They enjoy much more value for the price they pay, and we are much more flexible as we offer support in English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and other languages. We are locally present with our numerous offices and a face to face meeting is much more productive than any other form of communication. We also have much better quality liquidity and we can accommodate any trading style, any trade size, between 1,000 currency units to 10 million and more. We offer the best gold liquidity in the market at 25 cents. We have localized our liquidity engines in Tokyo, London and, of course, New York which allows customers to cross connect to our liquidity and execute trades without the 300-500 ms delay (due to the Pacific or Atlantic oceans). And last but not least, we have been in business for a long time and have large respected customers that brings us a lot of credibility. For example, in Japan, two of our high level clients are Cyber Agent and Invast. We are also proud to list Citibank, GFT and FXCM in the US and many more large entities around the world which must remain unnamed due to confidentiality agreements.
Please elaborate on your industry experience, and what you have achieved since being appointed CEO.
Well, I started the company when I was a student at MIT, so I had no experience whatsoever in the industry or in business, in fact, as I was trained to be a scientist and engineer in Math, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical engineering, Computer science and so on… But I think the numbers speak for themselves: I bootstrapped (without any investment) Boston Technologies from 0$ to 20.5$ million USD in revenue in 2013. It wasn't easy. We made a lot of mistakes and we learned from them. I put together a board of advisors that has been very helpful. We have hired only the best people we could find and we pay them well. I think the main value of the company and the reason we are here today is thanks to the people on our team. Everything is due to them.
Why should current graduates or people looking for a job in Forex consider working for your company?
Why? Because we continue to innovate, we continue to grow quickly and we are a very exciting company to work for. We have a lot of interesting things going on at all times and there is always something new and interesting to work on. Also, because of our worldwide presence, it is easy to find a position in the region of your choice. Any graduate should understand that we value intelligence, creativity, hard work, motivation much more than experience. Thus, we allow and encourage people to join us even if they are not experienced in our industry. And last but not least, we have highly competitive compensation packages.
My final answer is, however, this may not be a good fit for everyone. Our company is very fast paced and very demanding, so if somebody is looking for a relaxing position 9-5, this is probably not it.
What are your present issues and challenges and what is your plan to steer the company through them successfully?
I think the retail FX world is going through some pains for the last 2 years or so experiencing obvious highs and lows. Prior to this, you would just open your door and customers would walk in. I think now one has to be much more professional, organized and diligent. The Product matters much more and competition has increased quite a bit. We address this problem through innovation as we always have. We offer new products and we enter new markets. Our teams are getting better and better every day. We currently have the absolute best team we have ever had in the life of the company and I believe this will make us one of the most valuable companies in this business. I think that we will always be the most successful as long as this stays true. But to adapt, we have also intently focused on running a better, tighter, more precise and more efficient company and this gives us the confidence to believe that our success will continue.
As industry is well known to be highly competitive, what means do you use to survive and to excel in such a fast and sometimes harsh environment (except for collaboration with Forex Magnates Directory of course ;)?
Innovation and value added. If people don’t add value to their clients they are just acting as intermediaries and it is just a matter of time before the clients get smarter and learn to avoid them.
Does your company focus on the domestic market or does it have a global presence?
Boston Technologies has a global presence with offices in Boston, New York, London, Shanghai and Tokyo. Our dedicated multi-lingual staff attends to customers’ needs around the clock.
What is your company’s plan for the next two years? Please detail any expansions, technological developments, mergers/acqusitions or proposed entries into new markets.
We have been looking at acquisitions. I am happy to disclose our confidential plans any time, just ask me :)
Is branding important, and what is your corporate view on it?
Yes, very important. Our efforts are focused on associating our brand with innovation.
What is your predictions for the coming years of the Forex industry as a whole?
I think it will consolidate. I think there is less and less space for companies who are not operating efficiently and professionally. I think regulation is a must and it is a great thing to have intelligent regulation. I think that the US retail FX market is dead The brokers didn’t work together and instead, the biggest fish, the CME, ate or will eat them all. I think that STP is becoming a must as the trading flow is becoming smarter and smarter by natural selection.
What innovations could the industry as a whole benefit from?
Please look at what we are doing: localized liquidity, better products on precious metals, increase the list of products to include local currencies like CNH, RUB, THB. We will make more press announcements when we release more upcoming innovations. We have 2 new big ones coming this year!
Do you think that the forex industry is transparent enough and that most companies including yours pay enough attention to due diligence?
Yes, we take compliance very, very seriously. One rotten apple in the basket is much more dangerous than losing some business that did not successfully pass the vetting process.
Do you read Forex Magnates Quarterly report?
Yes we do.
What’s your view on the Forex/social network phenomenon? A good way to further the business with much lower costs, or a potential regulatory hazard should it be deemed financial advice by regulators?
I think the regulatory hazard is not there. I think this is not any more dangerous than any other innovation like automatic trading, technical analysis , fund managers…... In fact, this is probably even less dangerous than many retail fund managers who offer less transparency and have huge conflicts of interest. So I don’t understand why this regulation is such a concern for the so-called social FX networks. However, I do think the social FX networks will not succeed in the form in which they exist today because they provide the wrong incentive to the leaders in the leader/follower format that encourages large risk for short periods of time until blow-ups occur. So I do think the market is ripe for the entity who will find a better incentive to encourage a 2-3 sharpe ratio instead of volume, Pnl, or anything like that. Large fund managers and prop fund pay a % of PnL proportional to the sharpe ratio, and not to anything else.
Are you using social media channels to create greater exposure and increase trader lifespan?
We don’t deal with traders, only with brokers and fund managers. But yes, we do use media channels to educate people as we think that is a very successful and beneficial forum.
To allow us to get to know you a bit better, let us know something that interests you, and what you enjoy doing in your spare time.
Oh, many things. Lately I’ve been learning to play the piano again. I’ve also been taking tennis lessons for 6 months now. And last but not least, I’ve been experimenting with wine making and beer brewing during this last year. So far, I’ve made a Sauvignon Blanc, an Old Vine Zinfandel, a vendange tardive Vidal style Ice-Wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon (that looks very promising), and by popular demand, a new batch of the Sauvignon Blanc. Maybe time to branch into wine bars or winery business :)
