2020 has seen widespread changes to the brokerage landscape. Consequently, the outbreak of Covid-19 has created both challenges and opportunities for all companies.
Finance Magnates interviewed Keith Ioakim, the CEO of EuropeFX for his perspective on the year and where the company is headed.
What Makes EuropeFX Unique Relative to the Competition, and How Have You Managed to Stay Ahead in 2020?
As a company, we never rest on our laurels. We operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment, and client expectations are always changing.
No matter how good our offer is, we're still in a constant process of upgrading. We firmly believe that anything can be improved, so we are always looking to improve our offer.
That might be forward-facing systems or things in our back-office operations.
I think our clients recognize this. We get a lot of feedback from our many traders worldwide, and we take this very seriously.
I believe this sets us apart from our competition. We don't dictate a solution to our clients. We allow our clients to participate in the development of our offer actively.
This development is an on-going process, but the results are very encouraging so far. This is one reason I think for our steady progress, even in what was admittedly, a very difficult 2020 globally.
EuropeFX Offers a Wide Range of Tradable Assets. Have You Noticed an Uptick of Certain Instruments, Such as Your Pharma Stocks in Light of Covid-19?
Most certainly. Pharma stocks, in particular, are an excellent example of this. With vaccine tests for Covid-19 entering test phases at some major pharmaceutical companies, we saw this as an opportunity for our clients to enter a new segment at a very early stage.
We recently added many of these new pharma stocks to our asset index. Our traders have very warmly welcomed these additions.
This is a further example of how we build our offer, giving our clients a chance to trade companies they see mentioned in the news and press daily.
By Almost Any Metric, More Educated Traders Tend to Be More Successful. How Does EuropeFX Help Improve Trader Education and Market Knowledge?
We always say that knowledge is power. Trading might seem like a relatively simple proposition, buy low and sell high, but mastering trading can be a long and time-consuming process.
We operate as an STP broker, so our income as a company comes from our clients' trading commissions. The more our client's trade, the more trading commissions we generate.
We want our clients to be successful. To that end, we offer what I firmly believe is one of the most comprehensive libraries of trader education resources available anywhere online.
Our clients have access to a library of training manuals and videos and some other excellent resources like our new interactive economic calendar. We also run regular webinars and live trading sessions for our clients to join.
Are There Any New Developments in the Pipeline for EuropeFX, and What Do You See for the Rest of 2020 in Terms of Opportunities?
I wouldn't want to go into too many specifics and spoil the surprise, but we do have some new products in the final testing stages.
These are aimed mainly at new products in our asset index. Not so much an addition to an existing class as an entirely new set of instruments.
These new additions are something our clients had been asking us about for a while now, so over the last two months or so, and we have been developing the whole process and functionality for this.
I am sure this will be a big hit with our traders, and we look forward to unveiling this very shortly.
2020 has been a pretty dismal year so far. COVID pandemic changed the way we live our lives.
Despite this, I think the most significant opportunity we have for the remainder of the year is through our clients' communication channels.
Customer service has always been a critical focus for us, so improving this is one of the most significant opportunities I see moving ahead.
What Challenges Exist Specific to 2020, and What Measures Has EuropeFX Taken to Overcome These Challenges?
Without a doubt, 2020 will always be remembered as the year of the COVID pandemic. As a company, we have a duty to our clients to provide the best possible service, regardless of the circumstances.
We also have a responsibility to our employees to ensure they can do their jobs in the safest and most comfortable environment possible. Our hearts go out to all the victims of this terrible disease around the world.
While the majority of our employees are now office-based, we still do have some home-based employees.
We introduced a series of initiatives for our employees to work on flexible hours, and we cover the costs of any Covid-19 tests for our team.
Despite the global pandemic, we have continued to develop. The team here at EuropeFX is growing. We're in a strong position and have managed to overcome all the challenges so far.
Yes, we have to continue to work around the circumstances we're faced with, but the future looks bright.
