Founded in 2010 towards the end of the global financial crisis, UK online brokerage company ThinkMarkets has seen market volatility at its zenith and nadir. Now the company is looking forward to a bright future and its CEO Faizan Anees is even bullish about Brexit.
Here he talks exclusively to Forbes about the challenges and possibilities of what could be an extraordinary year (for everybody).
Monty Munford: ThinkMarkets is an online brokerage company, can you tell Forbes readers more?
Faizan Anees: ThinkMarkets provides access to financial markets through its online trading platform. We operate in a fully regulated environment and we established the brand nearly a decade ago, at the height of the global recession.
We have focused our resources on technology and a clear strategy that is competitive in price but at the same time gives investors an edge through the diverse product range and advanced functionality available on our trading platform.
You operate in the UK and Australia, any plans to expand to the US or other territories?
Our global expansion strategy has identified a number of locations that we believe are supportive of our growth plans. Primarily we are looking at increasing our foothold in regions such as Singapore, South Africa and New Zealand and (depending on Brexit) within Continental Europe itself.
The US is a great market, but at ThinkMarkets it has not been a core focus. At the same time, we are reviewing the opportunities in the US and are open to offering our services as we have seen a lot of interest for our trading technology in this region.
You mention Brexit, will it have a disruptive effect on global trading?
If you look at stories such as ours, then what is deemed to be a threat can be turned into an opportunity.
On the other hand, the global financial markets are positioned to weather even the most significant of storms; we saw this with the events around the 2008 financial crisis.
In the short-term, I do believe that Brexit will cause some disruption particularly with sterling and the UK economy as the UK will lose its strong positioning as the epicentre of business for the wider EU market, among overseas investors and corporates.
However, in the long-run, if the government can negotiate trade deals that open our import and export markets to new players in Africa and Latin America, then we should have a net benefit.
Overall, I’m bullish, despite being a long-standing remainer.
How much of your flow is with cryptocurrencies?
The recent surge in virtual currencies over the last two years has definitely been noticed here and we have introduced Bitcoin and Ethereum CFDs to our product list. In terms of trading volumes and activity, the numbers are gradually increasing in this asset class, but the bulk of activity remains with our core products, which include forex, stocks, indices and commodities.
Looking forward, cryptocurrency CFDs are gaining more coverage among traditional crypto investors as the price movements have reduced the value of their portfolios and a CFD is a useful hedging tool to minimise and manage risks.
You recently announced a partnership with boxer Amir Khan, what are you trying to achieve there?
The core objectives are for us to connect and strengthen relations with our current and future clientele. As an online business dealing with thousands of clients from across the globe – sport sponsorship allows us to show our own individual human side.
Amir Khan is a well-known athlete, both in the UK and internationally and you can see the numerous challenges he faced before achieving his vast success. We want the trading community to relate to this and empathize with this approach and appreciate that for their own investment goals.
We have an exciting array of initiatives and campaigns that we are working with Amir on, these are both to build the brand’s equity among traders but also align the sponsorship with our Corporate Social Responsibility and ensure that we are operating as a responsible employer that is giving back to society.
Which sectors do you anticipate growth in 2019?
We believe the renewable energy sector has great potential particularly coming off the back of an uncertain energy sector. In addition, we continue to look at the blockhain space, as a pure technology solution the benefits are many.
Gradually we are seeing greater adoption across many industries such as finance, healthcare and even the government sector such as HM Land Registry, which is looking to evolve their systems with blockchain.
Do you think China’s ‘slowdown’ will lead to a global stock market slump?
The Chinese economy is directly and indirectly associated to the global economy and China’s declining annual growth rate are reflective of the bigger international picture.
The world’s second-largest economy has to be taken seriously, last week’s surprise earnings warning by Apple was a clear signal of the ramifications of a depreciating Chinese economy.
Although China is not new to downward growth, the country has struggled to regain its prime annual growth rates of more than 10% since the 2008 recession and it’s difficult to see this recover.
Overall, I am bullish on China as it transforms to a consumer-driven economy, the downturn in its manufacturing sector is being compensated by strong figures in the service sector.
What are your forecasts on trading in 2019?
The year kicked off with a mini flash crash in the Japanese Yen and a massive drop in the price of the Australian dollar. There are chances of a mini-recession if the Federal Reserve doesn’t ease off.
Global markets are highly sensitive to the Fed’s monetary policy, and every bang of the GDP is going to have an impact.
