OANDA announces plans to open Australia office later this year

OANDA hires industry veterans to confirm their commitment to Asia-Pacific Region

OANDA, in an official news release today says they are pleased to announce the appointments of Gavin Ward as Head of Greater China, and Louis Cooper as the company’s Managing Director in Australia. The two industry veterans are tasked with growing OANDA’s business and its product offerings in Greater China and Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

“Recent studies show a small decline of forex traders in most of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries, but OANDA is bucking the industry. We have shown strong growth in APAC year-over-year and continue to support our customers in these important markets,” said Rajesh Yohannan, Managing Director and CEO, OANDA Asia Pacific. “Given their expertise and insights, I know both Gavin and Louis will elevate our profile, our forex and CFD offerings, and help to define our fxTrade platform as the best choice for investors in each region.”

With almost two decades of experience in the financial services industry and extensive pan-European and Asian experience, Ward will spearhead OANDA’s growth in the Greater China region from OANDA Asia Pacific’s office in Singapore. He joins OANDA from CMC Markets, where he was the Director of Asia, as well as a member of the global General Executive Committee, defining CMC’s companywide strategy.

“I’m excited by the opportunity of this brand new role with OANDA as we have the tools, resources and the mindset to offer a better and fairer trading experience to clients in the Greater China region than any alternatives available,” said Ward. “I believe the potential for OANDA is huge by offering a product specifically designed to help our clients trade smarter, spearheaded by outstanding educational tools and resources, and the innovative features of fxTrade, fxTrade Mobile and our MT4 solution.”

Cooper also joins OANDA from CMC Markets, where he was the Managing Director in Australia and New Zealand. Under his leadership, Cooper grew the broker’s market share and led it to become one the top providers for frequent CFD traders in the antipodes. In 2012, Cooper was also voted one of the Top 5 Executives in Australia by CEO Magazine.

“We have a significant existing client base in Australia of active CFD and forex traders enjoying our award-winning platform, with superior execution speed and world class analytics tools,” Cooper said. “With innovative offerings such as auto trading and access to multi asset class execution on MT4, I look forward to officially opening our Sydney office later this year to further support our valued clients and contributing to the company’s continued growth in the region.”

OANDA is better positioned than most brokers to maximize their footprint in these very important markets as a trusted blue chip FX broker. When traders do their due diligence they will see that OANDA currently operates global offices in the United States (New York), Canada (Toronto), London (UK, Europe), Singapore, and Japan (Tokyo). Now, officially add to that Australia (Sydney) and potentially in the near future maybe Auckland (New Zealand) and dare we say Shanghai (China)? Good luck to OANDA going forward and for recognizing the need to have “boots on the ground” in the major jurisdictions in which they serve clients from.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.

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