Its been several months since Playtech acquired CFH Group in order to boost its financials division. The institutional business of the firm has gained substantial access to resources from the deal and the company might well use this Leverage to continue growing.
In order to find out what the company's intentions are, Finance Magnates reached out to CFH and spoke with the company’s new VP of Institutional Sales, Chauncey Boreham.
With substantial experience in the industry while working at ADS and Alpari, Boreham elaborated on CFH’s upcoming plans.
“With the financial strength of Playtech behind us and the positive reputation of the company, I find that potential clients are keen to talk to us and CFH has more opportunities now than ever before,” Boreham explained.
Breaking into the US Market in a Post-Brexit World
In the aftermath of the US election a number of financial services companies have set their sights on the market across the Atlantic. CFH appears to be in line with the trend.
Chauncey Boreham, VP of Institutional Sales, CFH
When asked about the company’s plans for geographical expansion, Boreham said: “I’ve just come back from a conference in Miami and we are starting to get our name out there. I have a lot of contacts in the US and there’s a big opportunity for our institutional prime of prime brokerage business.
It’s a very competitive market but I think that with the pricing we have, our strong industry reputation and track record, we can find our niche in the area. It’s an enormous market and you only need a small part of it to be doing well.”
While the company is focusing its plans on the US, European challenges loom with the unfolding of Brexit and the introduction of MiFID II in 2018. CFH is presently evaluating its regulatory options and its legal and compliance team is working out the best areas for the firm to focus on.
Boreham elaborated on the upcoming regulatory changes: “We are taking the necessary steps to ensure we are fully compliant under MiFID II. However, we have already seen the impact on new regulatory measures enforced in the UK, Turkey and Cyprus and therefore cannot discount further changes.”
The company doesn’t appear to be worried by the upcoming regulatory changes in the UK. Despite the ruling of the FCA that will likely limit the maximum leverage for clients in the coming weeks, this could be a positive change for the industry in the long haul.
“As an FCA regulated organization, we are a strong advocate of the FCA. We appreciate their ultimate aim is to protect clients and make the industry more credible and sustainable in the long run."
Technology and Relationships
CFH will continue to develop its existing business model. Continuing growth in prime services is expected to continue as the company connects to more reputable, established execution venues and is able to face more institutional clients.
“We are making further platform (front and back-end) enhancements that will allow even greater risk controls both for CFH and our clients. As we are part of the Playtech group, we will be looking to utilize their investment to reduce costs and assist clients under tightly controlled measures; in a market where credit and trading costs are becoming increasingly challenging,” Mr. Boreham concluded.
