Gibraltar-based CFD and spread betting company and subsidiary of InterTrader Direct, announced today that it has entered a strategic alliance with Stockpicker, in selecting the investment house as its exclusive CFD partner in order to expand the company's reach into the Swedish market.
Shai Heffetz, Managing Director,
InterTrader Direct
InterTrader Direct, which is a subsidiary of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, has shown its interest in expanding to other markets of late, having added the MetaTrader 4 platform to its offering, which is available alongside the company's existing spread betting orientated platform, which is largely geared toward a British audience.
By providing spread betting on MetaTrader 4, the company could begin to cater toward the requirements of retail FX traders in other regions aside from the UK, a direction which many spread betting and CFD providers began to take earlier this year.
Distribution Channel Via Synergy
Shai Heffetz, Managing Director of InterTrader Direct, today explained to Forex Magnates the rational behind the company's decision to enter the Swedish market by forging a partnership with a company with established presence in the region. "We understood that to go into that sort of market, it must be with a partner," explained Mr. Heffetz.
Speaking with regard to the reasons for selecting a partner in Sweden, Mr. Heffetz explained to Forex Magnates that, "First of all there are a few important combinations and attractions to Sweden. It is home to a highly educated trading community, and CFDs are young and growing exponentially compared to other more mature markets. It is also a very stable and growing economy."
In congruence with today's announcement of the partnership with Stockpicker, InterTrader Direct has also released a Swedish language version of its website, however Mr. Heffetz confirmed to Forex Magnates today that Sweden is considered a country which has a large number of English speaking traders, making for ease of customer support.
Being a nation whose regulatory structure falls under the pan-European MiFID directive, Mr. Heffetz considers the ease of attracting a client base in a strong country such as Sweden via InterTrader Direct's MiFID passporting facility to be an added value, as it does not require any further expense in regulatory registration, instead using the company's existing Gibraltar Financial Services Commission license.
European CFD Footprint
Whilst InterTrader Direct's MetaTrader 4-based spread betting product serves a British client base, its CFD offering, according to Mr. Heffetz, attracts clients from mainland European nations, including Spain, France and Italy.
The partnership with Stockpicker brings InterTrader Direct's CFD product to Sweden, supplanting Stockpicker's former partnership with IG Group, on which Mr. Heffetz said, "This is a priveleged position, in picking up the exclusive partnership with Stockpicker from the company's previous selected partner IG Group, we see important future value."
When asked about projected future revenue, Mr. Heffetz explained that at this point it is too early to estimate, but should it prove fruitful, the company intends to seek further partnerships to expand its CFD offering to new markets.
On The Same Page
Mr. Heffetz concluded by explaining to Forex Magnates that he values the corporate synergy between the two firms. "On establishing the alliance, we told Stockpicker that we cannot pay as much as some other companies because we only take a trading commission instead of operating as a market maker, but Stockpicker displayed a preference for this model."
"They have established relationships with existing customers who prefer not to work with a market maker," concluded Mr. Heffetz.
