GAIN Capital Preparing to Phase Out City Index Brand

After years of operating 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.com and the City Index brand which was acquired for $118 mln in 2014, GAIN Capital is about to restructure its portfolio. The company made public its intention in its Q4 2018 earnings report.

After years of focusing on the institutional segment of the market, the native GAIN Capital brand will turn to retail. The company has announced that it will slowly be phasing out City Index and segmenting its clients to FOREX.com and GAIN Capital.

Aiming to grow its market share in existing markets and increase its presence in other markets, the company is leveraging its brands to target two distinct customer segments, experienced active traders with GAIN Capital and the broader retail clients group with FOREX.com.

Regulatory Challenges

The rollout of the GAIN Capital brand will start from Australia with sophisticated clients in mind. The firm’s focus on delivering a product that is competitive on a global scale with a competitive pricing structure and a more personalized approach is to follow with a global rollout later during the year.

“The GAIN brand will be built on our existing customer proposition and global regulatory footprint with some exciting new products and service enhancements based on the extensive customer research we've done to help inform our strategy,” the company’s CEO Glenn Stevens elaborates.

City Index will be gradually phased out and fully replaced while the company continues investing in the development of FOREX.com. The higher brand awareness and the FX-centric name enables the firm to make use of its cost-efficient customer acquisition model, driven by an automated onboarding and funding experience.

“The reach and brand awareness of FOREX.com affords us global expansion opportunities, including new language offerings to support our entrance into new regional markets,” Stevens explained.

The ability of the company to operate from a single technology stack, enables it to execute the transition smoothly and offer the majority of our investments in trading platforms, tools, and other products and services across both brands.

Focusing Marketing Efforts

The change announced by GAIN Capital shouldn’t come as a surprise. Consolidating branding efforts and focusing on a coherent strategy will help the company in a tough competitive environment.

Starting from Australia is also a swift strategic decision, since the regulatory framework in the land down under is allowing more flexible Leverage Leverage In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders Read this Term to risk-hungry clients that already have experience.

Last but not least, GAIN Capital is the name of a publicly-listed company and resonates well with higher-value clients.