What are APAC’s brokerage firms doing to get ahead competitively? They are increasingly expanding their client base globally: taking advantage of spreading risk, protecting themselves against regional economic downturns and benefitting from the upturns. Tapping into international markets and diversifying can lead to a larger client base and increased revenue opportunities.
As they expand, brokerages are embracing partnerships that enable them to provide tailored global solutions and services and are using technology to execute global trades more rapidly and securely than ever before.
This global approach taken by brokerages is in line with their clients’ behaviours too – their world is increasingly global. Clients expect their brokers to enact instant fund transfers and seamless cross-border payments whether it’s in Hong Kong or the US. Being able to deliver this consistently is one way for brokerages to delight existing clients and attract, and keep, demanding globally focused new ones.
Advantages of global expansion
For brokerages there are significant benefits that come with global expansion. These include diversified risk, a wider customer base, access to new markets, and increased revenue potential.
Expanding globally can bring with it greater stability for businesses. It’s resilience that comes from being embedded in new, diversified markets and from there unlocking a new customer base and revenue streams and higher profits. Businesses are not buffeted by the economic downturn of one, single market: they are protected by the stronger economies of their other markets.
In a nutshell:
- Access to New Markets: Global expansion allows brokers to reach out to new potential clients, providing a larger customer base.
- Diversification: By expanding globally, brokers can spread their risk across different markets, reducing the impact of a downturn in any one market.
- Increased Revenue: More markets mean more opportunities for acquiring different customer bases, leading to increased revenue.
- Brand Recognition: Expanding into new markets can help increase brand recognition and global reputation.
A global expansion success story
Australia-based Corporate Alliance specializes in alternative banking solutions, offering tailored FX risk management, cross-border payments and trade finance services to businesses. Established in 2013 and launched in 2020 during the Covid era, witith offices in Sydney and Melbourne, they made the decision to expand globally in 2022. Theirs is a story of considered global expansion. Having a physical presence in key markets has been a major part of Corporate Alliance’s success.
Corporate Alliance started its global expansion push in 2022 by establishing a research, development and support center in Chengdu, and offices in Hong Kong and Auckland. Through establishing local strategic partnerships in Hong Kong and New Zealand, and tailoring solutions and services to suit the specific needs of clients in these countries, they were able to facilitate smooth cross-border transactions, resulting in a significant 250% of annual client growth. From this, Corporate Alliance were able to solidify their position in the APAC region.
After successfully expanding into APAC, they ventured into Canada in 2024 and with an office currently set up in Toronto, Corporate Alliance is launching their corporate solutions product within the Canadian market. They are now strategically positioned across multiple markets with a mission to offer innovative, embedded financial solutions to a diverse array of clients. As a result, Corporate Alliance achieved a remarkable 50% increase in institutional clients, primarily attributed to embedded alternative banking solutions.
The successful registration and granting of licenses in Hong Kong and New Zealand is testament to Corporate Alliance’s dedication to compliance. Having these strategies in place ensured Corporate Alliance’s expansion into new markets was on firm ground.
Strategies for a successful global expansion
Brokerage firms must adopt specific strategies to ensure that their global expansion is a success. They need a separate strategy each for being culturally sensitive, for understanding local regulations, for knowing how to hire local talent, and knowing how to leverage partnerships with solution providers so they can accelerate getting to market.
A few strategies:
- Brokerages should customize their solutions to align with the unique cultural nuances and preferences of each region.
- Hire the best local talent and ensure they are both solution and relationship-centric so a brokerage can understand and address market-specific needs.
- Be strictly adherent to local regulations. Having a strategic partner in Visa also helped to accelerate their growth in these markets.
- Partner with a strategic partner to ensure you get the most of all opportunities in the new region.
Strategic partnerships unlock success
Says Corporate Alliance’s Advisory Board Member Wade Dilks, "Corporate Alliance is embracing a new era of embedded finance to unlock cross-selling opportunities in the broader value chain to maximize our customers’ experience. We saw in Visa the opportunity to have a strategic partnership that would enable us to leverage advanced digital technologies and offer an enhanced customer value proposition and product offering that would create a more holistic, inclusive and frictionless financial ecosystem.”
Strategic partnerships enable brokers to move money seamlessly cross-border and transact globally in multiple currencies, fast. These partnerships mean there’s no need for brokerages to build and maintain payment systems, which is costly and time consuming. Instead, a strategic partner can help ensure that payments are smooth, timely and cost-effective: allowing brokerages to focus on enhancing the customer experience and accelerating their go-to-market strategies and expand their payments infrastructure.
