Too many traders are familiar with the frustration of having to jump through hoops and to wait for several days –or more– before they can retrieve their own funds from their own account. While some brokers find that this practice retains customers in the short term, it hurts the industry in the long term.
“Our entire industry would grow stronger if it united to prevent undue delays and made fast withdrawals the standard,” said Martin St-Hilaire, Managing Director at Titan FX and a Chartered Professional Accountant.
“Not to brag, but the most frequent customer feedback we receive on social media is about how fast we process withdrawals,” St-Hilaire added. “Just last month someone tweeted they felt ‘divine’ because they got their money in less than two hours. It’s a nice comment, but kind of shocking. The fact that a task as simple as processing payments is worthy of praise says a lot about the state of the forex industry.”
Brokers can be forced to delay payments due to insufficient liquidity, technical issues, lack of support staff or regulatory non-compliance, indicative of poor management practices. Or they can deliberately make customers wait and subject them to endless processes, hoping that they will change their mind and keep trading instead of leaving.
One common tactic is to repeatedly ask for more documentation to complete KYC/AML requirements over the course of several days or even weeks. Normally, these verifications are completed beforehand, at the time of deposit, but brokers can always cite a new regulator rule and conveniently blame government bureaucracy for the hassle.
Low expectations are holding all of us back
Whatever the cause of payment delays –either incompetence or dishonesty– their widespread occurrence is damaging the industry’s reputation and potential growth. That means that many existing traders give up, while many others don’t even start and keep off forex altogether. Not to mention the many cases where the intent was criminal and customer funds were stolen.
“As an industry, we can either keep inflicting low standards of service to a small base of die-hard traders who have resigned themselves to the current situation or we can expand our market by making it more friendly to mainstream investors,” St-Hilaire observed. “Fast withdrawals are a good place to start, because they demonstrate genuine care and dedication to customer service.”
At Titan FX, the majority of withdrawals are automatically processed within one business day. This is due to sound accounting practices such as segregating customer funds and constantly monitoring capital adequacy and liquidity ratios as well as strong computer security standards and full redundancy on all critical systems. Still, if any issue arises, customer support representatives are on deck 24/7 to respond in person.
While these are strong selling points for the company, its chief insists that fast withdrawals should be the norm, not the exception.
Transparency creates trust
His proposed solution: coming together as an industry to commit to higher standards of transparency.
“Financial regulators as well as the media are always reminding traders how important it is to exercise caution and conduct due diligence when choosing a broker,” St-Hilaire noted. Our industry needs to share the burden of proof by not being such a minefield in the first place.”
He points to a new widget developed by Titan FX that discloses real-time deposits and withdrawal conditions for each payment method. After a pilot project conducted in one Asian market is finished, it will be deployed globally. The goal is to help traders avoid unexpected delays since they know exactly what’s in store before making their first deposit.
Other transparency-oriented tools developed by Titan FX include live rates on all instruments, swap calendars, dividend calendars, percentage change rankings, MT4/MT5 indicator rankings, Expert Advisor rankings, as well as daily and weekly market reports.
“We have more to gain by sharing information than hiding it,” St-Hilaire said. “The more tools and knowledge we deliver to traders, the more we empower them to become better traders and the more they trade with us and inspire others to join them. Brokers who can demonstrate that they care about their traders’ experience are the ones who will grow this industry in the long run. Those who use cheap tricks to squeeze every last penny out of their clients are short-sighted and won’t last long.”
Learn more about funding and withdrawals at Titan FX.
Too many traders are familiar with the frustration of having to jump through hoops and to wait for several days –or more– before they can retrieve their own funds from their own account. While some brokers find that this practice retains customers in the short term, it hurts the industry in the long term.
“Our entire industry would grow stronger if it united to prevent undue delays and made fast withdrawals the standard,” said Martin St-Hilaire, Managing Director at Titan FX and a Chartered Professional Accountant.
“Not to brag, but the most frequent customer feedback we receive on social media is about how fast we process withdrawals,” St-Hilaire added. “Just last month someone tweeted they felt ‘divine’ because they got their money in less than two hours. It’s a nice comment, but kind of shocking. The fact that a task as simple as processing payments is worthy of praise says a lot about the state of the forex industry.”
Brokers can be forced to delay payments due to insufficient liquidity, technical issues, lack of support staff or regulatory non-compliance, indicative of poor management practices. Or they can deliberately make customers wait and subject them to endless processes, hoping that they will change their mind and keep trading instead of leaving.
One common tactic is to repeatedly ask for more documentation to complete KYC/AML requirements over the course of several days or even weeks. Normally, these verifications are completed beforehand, at the time of deposit, but brokers can always cite a new regulator rule and conveniently blame government bureaucracy for the hassle.
Low expectations are holding all of us back
Whatever the cause of payment delays –either incompetence or dishonesty– their widespread occurrence is damaging the industry’s reputation and potential growth. That means that many existing traders give up, while many others don’t even start and keep off forex altogether. Not to mention the many cases where the intent was criminal and customer funds were stolen.
“As an industry, we can either keep inflicting low standards of service to a small base of die-hard traders who have resigned themselves to the current situation or we can expand our market by making it more friendly to mainstream investors,” St-Hilaire observed. “Fast withdrawals are a good place to start, because they demonstrate genuine care and dedication to customer service.”
At Titan FX, the majority of withdrawals are automatically processed within one business day. This is due to sound accounting practices such as segregating customer funds and constantly monitoring capital adequacy and liquidity ratios as well as strong computer security standards and full redundancy on all critical systems. Still, if any issue arises, customer support representatives are on deck 24/7 to respond in person.
While these are strong selling points for the company, its chief insists that fast withdrawals should be the norm, not the exception.
Transparency creates trust
His proposed solution: coming together as an industry to commit to higher standards of transparency.
“Financial regulators as well as the media are always reminding traders how important it is to exercise caution and conduct due diligence when choosing a broker,” St-Hilaire noted. Our industry needs to share the burden of proof by not being such a minefield in the first place.”
He points to a new widget developed by Titan FX that discloses real-time deposits and withdrawal conditions for each payment method. After a pilot project conducted in one Asian market is finished, it will be deployed globally. The goal is to help traders avoid unexpected delays since they know exactly what’s in store before making their first deposit.
Other transparency-oriented tools developed by Titan FX include live rates on all instruments, swap calendars, dividend calendars, percentage change rankings, MT4/MT5 indicator rankings, Expert Advisor rankings, as well as daily and weekly market reports.
“We have more to gain by sharing information than hiding it,” St-Hilaire said. “The more tools and knowledge we deliver to traders, the more we empower them to become better traders and the more they trade with us and inspire others to join them. Brokers who can demonstrate that they care about their traders’ experience are the ones who will grow this industry in the long run. Those who use cheap tricks to squeeze every last penny out of their clients are short-sighted and won’t last long.”
Learn more about funding and withdrawals at Titan FX.
