FNG Exclusive Interview… As 2021 draws to a close, we thought it would be a good time to speak with CMC Markets Connect, to understand more about how the team have met the unique set of challenges presented over the year.
Hopes are building that worst of the global health pandemic may be behind us and there’s also a return to something that at least approximates to ‘business as usual’, but what were the high points in terms of deliverables for the company – one which is very much seen as being a cornerstone of the industry? Richard Elston, Head Institutional at CMC Connect, explains more.
FNG: Hi Richard, and thanks for joining us today. In a world that sometimes seems rather anodyne, consensus appears to be that CMC made a real difference this year. Why was that?
Richard: The reality is that the underlying market in which we operate is typically very stable and as a result offers little obvious scope for innovation, at least without a degree of creativity being applied. Far too much of what we see revolves around clichés and buzz words and that’s something we make a concerted effort to avoid. As such – and I believe this has been especially noticeable since we launched the CMC Markets Connect brand – we have focused our energy on ensuring we can stand out from the crowd.
FNG: One example of this has been acknowledged as your CPD initiative. Can you explain a bit more?
Richard: CPD – or Continuing Professional Development – is used by many companies and professional bodies to ensure that employees get exposure to a wide range of topics, both directly related to their profession and on a wider basis. Although the accreditation process took some effort for us to achieve, what it meant was that we could share thought leadership papers with a wider audience who in turn would receive an element of certification for reading and showing they had understood the content. This served us on a two-fold basis, by expanding our reach into the wider financial sector and also enabling us to give something back to our core industry, where staff can benefit from certified training without any accompanying costs to them or their employer.
FNG: What else has the company been up to?
Richard: We took an active role in the 2021 Women in Finance festival and used this as an opportunity to host a virtual round table on the subject of “Blockchain and the Future of Digital Settlement”. Some of our own staff chose the theme on the basis that historically, blockchain conversations were all too often being dragged off into the world of cryptocurrencies, rather than looking at what purpose this technology can actually achieve in the wider market. The session was seen as a great success and was accompanied by an e-book created by the participants, a copy of which can be downloaded here.
FNG: You also signed the Global FX Code. Is that innovative?
Richard: Whilst many of the largest institutions had already signed up to the code, our commitment here reflects the changing position of the company and our ability to now act as a non-bank liquidity provider. We also firmly believe there’s a need for more equitable rules to be laid out to keep this market operating with a comparatively light regulatory touch. So, whilst the code still has further to go, we felt that by being part of this group we could engage with the ambition of delivering change whilst bolstering our credentials as a genuine operator on the world FX stage. Tier one regulation across multiple jurisdictions, a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange and a growing book of institutional business underlines just how far CMC has come in the last couple of decades.
FNG: So what next? What’s the plan for 2022?
Richard: For obvious reasons I’m not going to go into detail, but I’d say to expect more of the same. We have shown that there’s scope to be truly innovative in this industry even if the mechanics and processes in the background aren’t changing all that quickly. We have also found that the approach taken over the last year have allowed us to engage with a new audience, reconnect with others and strengthen our existing counterparty relationships, too. And as well as these “peripheral” developments, we have some enhancements to our core product offering working their way down the pipeline, too.