Pepperstone is committing to an effort to expand its operations in the European market with a new hire. The company just onboarded longtime Admiral Markets executive Andrzej Tomczyk as its new Head of EEA Business Development. He will be based out of Berlin and will be tasked with growing the client base of Pepperstone in the European Economic Area.
Mr Tomczyk has been in the industry since 2009, spending most of his career at Admiral Markets, where he was most recently Managing Director of the company’s Polish branch. He was also Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe as well as regional board member.
Uncertainty caused by Brexit in the UK appears to be swinging the operational focus of Pepperstone with a diversification effort away from London. Being in the heart of Europe, Berlin is one of the most vibrantly growing cities in Germany in recent years.
Historically Pepperstone has been active mostly in the APAC region, where the company developed a substantial network centered in Melbourne. The company’s European subsidiary Pepperstone Limited, which is regulated by the FCA, temporarily suspended operations earlier this year.
The company’s new hire reflects that after reassessing its business plans for Europe, Pepperstone is preparing to boost its presence in the region.
Regulatory uncertainty around Brexit and the upcoming changes to the retail market have been major factors for brokers aiming to compete in the EU. The ESMA is set to deliver a new set of rules and regulations for retail foreign Exchange and CFDs operators in the coming quarters, just as the MiFID II regulatory framework is incoming in January 2018.