OANDA Sets up Shop in Silicon Valley Close to CEO’s FinTech Roots

OANDA, a global Canada headquartered online retail Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term broker, just announced that it has opened an office in San Francisco, California. New to Silicon Valley geographically, OANDA sees the move as keeping with its start-up mindset and computer engineering pedigree that was introduced nearly 20 years ago at its founding.

Natasha Lala, formerly the group’s VP of Engineering, has been promoted to the position of Chief of Staff and will head the new office. “When OANDA opened its first office in Toronto, our focus was to use our collective technology expertise to transform the forex market; to create a fair and transparent marketplace, and provide individual FX traders access to it,” said Natasha Lala, Chief of Staff, OANDA Corporation. “Today, as we open our doors in San Francisco, our focus is largely the same. But as we make our best-in-breed fxTrade and fxTrade Mobile platforms smarter and faster, we also look toward how we can further transform the retail investing industry at large.”

As OANDA’s President & CEO, Ed Eger, is a former PayPal executive and wants to use technology to disrupt the forex market – this move can be seen as a first step to bring the firm to the Mecca of startups, San Francisco. For now, Toronto will remain the headquarters of the group, and OANDA is not moving any one department to San Francisco - the office is currently a mix of functions (legal, marketing, engineering and admin staff) but it will expand to meet the company’s needs.

“OANDA is a world-class company with operations in most of the globe’s finance and technology hubs, and it was time that we added Silicon Valley to that roster,” said Ed Eger, President and CEO, OANDA Corporation. “2014 has been a transformative year for this company. With strong and expanding teams in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, we are poised for more significant transformation in 2015 to the benefit of retail investors the world over.”