LeapRate Exclusive… LeapRate has learned that the FCA regulated arm of China based online brokerage group Formax Group has gone live with a new website and FX-ECN brokerage service under the moniker Formax Prime, at formaxprime.co.uk.
Formax’s former UK website formaxmarket.co.uk now also leads directly to the new site.
We had exclusively reported during the summer that Formax had set up an FCA licensed subsidiary in the UK, Formax Prime Capital (UK) Limited, with plans to make a large push in both the retail and institutional FX segments.
Formax Group was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs Bill Wang and Charles Mao in 2012. After raising VC funds, Formax received a Hong Kong license in early 2014, and in 2015 obtained an FCA license for its aforementioned UK subsidiary, and has been preparing for its UK/Europe launch since.
So what are Formax’s plans for its UK operation? We had the opportunity to speak with David Rapp, Director of FX at Formax in London. Here is what he had to say.
LR: Hi David, and thanks for joining us today. Please let us know a little more about Formax, and the project to set up the new domain, site and platforms for the FCA licensed entity.
David Rapp, Formax
David: Formax is a very successful FX broker based in Asia that is looking to offer it products and services to the EMEA market. To do this we have taken the strategic decision to set up operations in London so as to allow our clients all the benefits of falling under the protective regulatory umbrella of the FCA. Formax Prime Capital UK Ltd can now offer its cutting-edge trading technology to clients based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and we have just launched our new website to cater to this market.
We’ve invested a lot of time and money in developing a website and marketing process that will help keep our clients informed. The site has been developed to provide traders with the latest market commentary updated daily, alongside trading insights to help them to make better trading decisions. The site was developed as part of a wider marketing push for Formax Prime Capital UK Ltd, which has focused on getting our ethos of ‘transparent trading’ into the market.
We believe that traders need better insight into how their trades are placed and how trading platforms make money from their clients. To that end Formax Prime was developed solely as an ECN Brokerage.
LR: The FCA licensed online brokerage market seems to becoming ever more crowded and competitive. What’s going to be unique about Formax’s offering to both Retail traders and Institutional clients, and how are you going to seek to differentiate Formax?
David: I believe that consolidation of brokers will happen and has already arguably started, FCA rules and regulations are becoming ever stricter and rightfully so, to ensure the customer is protected.
With MiFID II coming out next year those brokers who are not up to scratch will fall foul of the new rules making the industry cleaner, simpler, more honest and transparent for the consumer.
Formax already has these values at its heart and has worked very hard to ensure its model is pure STP only, connecting clients to ECN Tier One Liquidity with no dealing desk intervention, so its traders know they are executing on true market prices.
LR: What’s your view on the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading? Is that going to be an active area for Formax?
David: Formax has a close eye on this, there is a great race for Liquidity providers to produce a trust worthy feed to a wider audience and until there is a stable proven offering Formax will not add this to its instrument list.
There is obviously great demand for Cryptos and we see it from our clients also, but being a new up and coming product the FCA has its eye on this at present and it appears to not be looking upon it favourably in my opinion, we have to balance our offering with giving clients what they want but also protecting them from products they might not be suitable for. Look at the binary market as an example…
LR: What else can we expect to hear from Formax in the coming months?
David: Well the hard work over the last few months setting up the UK operation and getting it to where it is now has all come to fruition, with the launch of our new website and an imminent marketing campaign to support this. We already have the ZuluTrade platform fully integrated into our offering and will be adding MT5 in early 2018. Additional instruments, tools and market research will bolster our offering and we are always improving our technology, liquidity and customer experience to give clients the service, tools and execution they deserve.