The Australian broker, Pepperstone, has confirmed to Forex Magnates that it opened a new office in the city of Odessa, Ukraine, through one of its IBs during December 2013, and launched a new Russian language website.
It has become somewhat of an established trend in the past for FX brokers from Eastern Europe to try break into Western markets, making this development stand out. Pepperstone's CEO Owen Kerr told Forex Magnates that the move was made in line with the company's Global Deployment Strategy. "Whilst Asia is a core focus for us we will also be heavily expanding in Europe, Russia/CIS and the Middle East in 2014," he said in an interview.
Mr. Kerr also believes that the firm will be able to gain ground against the Russian brokers in their home territory, which is a huge market, thanks to the company's service that can top a lot of the domestic players. Pepperstone selected Odessa as a base to target Russia, Ukraine and also other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Mr. Kerr explained, due to the "large depth of talent" in the local FX industry coupled with Russian language skills.
Mr. Kerr also stated that Pepperstone's technology and low spread offering will resonate with Russian traders as the domestic market has a high spread model. He added: "We already have a decent size client base of Russian clients, and to provide them with an enhanced level of support we have opened a dedicated Russian and Ukrainian language office. The fact that we offer one of the most robust and advanced MT4 platforms out of any broker helps us in this market as MT4 originated in Russia."
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