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EXNESS has seemingly come out of nowhere and grown over the past two years to join the exclusive club of retail forex brokers which consistently top $100 billion in monthly volumes. All the while developing a good reputation for treating customers fairly, such as automating customer withdrawals. We’re pleased to speak today with Oleg Okhrimets, EXNESS General Director, who discusses his views on topics ranging from social trading, binary options, Russia FX regulation, new markets, mobile trading — and of course how EXNESS has gotten where it is.
LeapRate: Hi Oleg, and thanks for joining us and sharing with our readers. The final trading volume figures we saw made 2013 a significant year for the EXNESS Group. What do you think, why did the trading volumes grow so rapidly? And what target values have been set for 2014?
Oleg: Indeed, trading volumes increased by 50% compared to 2012, which is an indication of how much traders have come to trust us.
We believe that this kind of relationship with our clients stems primarily from the fact that the company continuously improves its services based on its clients’ wishes. By creating some of the best conditions on the market, we give our clients the opportunity to unlock their potential, to improve their skills, and to gain experience, because EXNESS traders can use any trading strategy. Many clients greatly value these conditions, so they open accounts with us.
As for the planned volumes in 2014, I can say that we fully expect the growth to continue, because we’ve already improved trading conditions in this new year and we’ve been working non-stop to develop new services that we’ll definitely be launching soon.
LeapRate: What stands out about last year? What goals did the company achieve?
Oleg: EXNESS has already been working in the forex market for five years. In that time it has become one of the leading forex brokers. We clearly demonstrated the seriousness of our plans and goals. We earned a reputation as a reliable company with long-term plans and prospects based on our annual trading volumes. Each of the five years were stages of improving and maintaining the quality of our services. For example, several new services were enabled for our clients in 2013.
The company took a rather large step toward clients in 2013. We made no small effort to create the best linguistic support. As a result, our official website has been translated into 22 languages, and our technical support team, which operates 24/7, assists traders in 13 languages. This is one of the company’s greatest achievements last year.
In 2014 we plan to implement the number of projects that will delight our clients.
LeapRate: Does the company have any plans for social trading?
Oleg: Today’s traders show huge interest not only in independent trading but in having their funds managed by other traders as well as applying other traders’ successful experience when completing forex transactions.
We understand the need to create high-quality social trading platforms to expand our clients’ possibilities. That’s why EXNESS plans to launch these services in 2014 – at present they are under development.
LeapRate: How does the company feel about a service for trading binary options? Does EXNESS plan to enable binary options for its clients?
Oleg: Our company does have plans to move in that direction.
LeapRate: Does the EXNESS Group plan to enter new markets? To expand its geographic reach? Which regions are of the highest priority to the company?
Oleg: EXNESS is the acknowledged leader in Asia. EXNESS (CY), which is regulated by CySEC, is actively working with clients from Europe. Our strategic objectives include developing our current markets and entering new regions.
LeapRate: In Russia EXNESS is well represented and well known. Do you expect that the Russian forex market will be regulated by law soon?
Oleg: EXNESS is of the opinion that forex in Russia should be regulated, first and foremost, to protect clients from dishonest players in the market. Moreover, adding regulation would increase transparency and the quality of services offered; it would also reinforce forex companies’ responsibility toward traders and give clients the ability to legally protect their rights and interests.
Efforts to create and develop effective ways to regulate the over-the-counter segment of the market have been underway since 2010. In 2013 the State Duma on first reading adopted the draft bill “On amending the Federal Law ‘On the securities market'” as it pertains to legal regulation of dealer activities in the over-the-counter forex market. This bill was developed in part by experts of self-regulatory organization NP CRFIN, which our company is a member of.
We hope that a plan to regulate the forex market will be implemented soon. The company plans to obtain a license in Russia after the new regulations governing legal relations in this segment take effect.
LeapRate: How important are mobile platforms to the company and its clients?
Oleg: Mobile trading makes it possible to trade and monitor trading anywhere and at any time. EXNESS offers its clients the ability to trade on all the popular mobile platforms.
Additionally, in 2013 we offered clients the ability to trade via the EXNESS Web Terminal.
LeapRate: It is hard for forex brokers to differentiate themselves. What sets the EXNESS Group apart from other companies? What makes your services unique?
Oleg: Before EXNESS was founded there were certain rules about broker-client relationships that had formed on the forex market. These rules gave traders the ability to trade on the currency market, but they imposed a large number of restrictions. We decided to offer a new level of high-quality services that would satisfy clients’ needs as much as possible. So we created a comfortable environment for traders to develop and improve their skills and realize their professional potential.
EXNESS’ trading conditions are among the best available today. Let me mention just a few. For example, one of the biggest advantages of EXNESS is minimal spreads without additional commission, along with high-speed order execution. Additionally, EXNESS offers its clients a service that is unique in its own way: automatic withdrawal of funds. Clients receive money in their electronic purses in a few seconds after submitting a withdrawal request. Moreover, EXNESS is the first company on the market to offer such flexible margin requirements. Clients can choose leverage from 1:2 to 1:2000, depending on their trading strategy.
Flexible trading conditions and our other advantages give both beginning traders and professionals the opportunity to experience high-quality online trading with our company.
LeapRate. What prospects and changes do you think the next 3-5 years will bring to the currency markets? Tell us about the company’s plans in the next five years.
Oleg: Trading on the forex market will continue to gain popularity among various market players. The next 3-5 years will bring active development of the industry as a result of strengthening regulation, which will increase traders’ trust of forex companies. There will be greater requirements regarding the quality of services offered by forex brokers as well as regarding the transparency of their activities on the forex market. Bearing in mind the probable direction of the currency market’s development, our company already operates in accordance with the highest standards in the industry.
As far as EXNESS’ plans for the next 5 years are concerned, EXNESS has a lot of work to do to research and launch new trading and investment tools, which we will try to make as convenient as possible for our clients. We also have a lot of work to do to expand our target markets and continue to improve our services.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.