A return to normal – for now…
Twelve months ago, the streets of London were practically deserted. Today it’s great to see life returning to normal and the sun shining, as many try to get back to old routines. At CMC Markets, we’re welcoming more team members back into our offices every day but do so reassured by our flexibility, performance and product innovation over the last 18 months. Collectively we hope that the fight against COVID is being won, but if we do see a return to lockdowns or enforced hybrid working models into the winter, we’re confident we will adapt quickly and continue to provide our trademark high level of service to clients.
Corporate Update
On 29th July 2021, CMC Markets published its Q1 2022 trading update. Although it is still early in the year, monthly active client numbers remain at similar levels reported in 2021. Peter Cruddas, Founder and CEO noted that the team remains focused on providing an excellent service to clients, both in terms of uptime and providing an innovative, market-leading platform. Further progress is being made on the company’s strategic initiatives and the board remains confident that net operating income for the full year will exceed £330m.
Spot FX Launch
A key development in terms of the institutional product offering was seen in early June 2021 with the launch of Spot FX. The move saw spot pricing for more than 60 FX pairs and precious metals added to the platform for institutional clients, whilst it also marked the completion of a series of updates to price feed management which further reduces latency and improves the liquidity offering for clients. Working with specialists Quod Financial, the technical integration between Quod’s quoting servers and CMC’s trading engine optimises price feed management, powering CMC’s ability to act as a liquidity maker.
Events
On 8th & 9th September 2021, we will be attending the TradeTechFX buy-side conference which is to be held both physically at the Hurlingham Club in London, as well as being open to a virtual audience. We’re delighted to see the return of physical events and a hybrid approach offers even greater access to our global audience. If you do plan to attend in person and want to meet up, please contact the CMC Markets Connect team here.
On the 16th September, we plan to host a breakfast briefing event at The Ned in London. Hosted by our founder and CEO Lord Cruddas, alongside members of the senior management team, the briefing will look at our journey beyond prime and how CMC Markets Connect is filling the FX liquidity gap, including what was the catalyst for our move into SpotFX and the value retail flow can provide to an institutional order book. If you would like to attend, please contact connect@cmcmarkets.com.
Publications & Podcasts
Over the summer, CMC Markets Connect launched a series of educational resources on CPD Hub (www.cpdhub.co). These modules are independently accredited under the Continuous Professional Development scheme, allowing industry professionals to expand their knowledge in a formalised structure, whilst accruing CPD points which are typically requested by employers as a KPI or necessary to maintain membership of trade bodies. James Shanks, CMC Markets Connect Institutional Services Manager and education lead spoke to e-Forex magazine in more detail about the project. Click here to read the full article.
In addition to the e-Forex coverage of our CPD launch, Richard Elston was interviewed by Larry Levy for a podcast with the same media outlet, discussing the subject of “A True Liquidity Provider in the FX Sense”. You can listen to the interview here.
Edmund Lim, CMC Markets Connect Institutional Sales Manager in Singapore, also spoke to Australian Fintech on the subject of whether there was still a space for voice broking and how the industry’s evolution here continues to promote better liquidity and price discovery. Read the article here.
Award win
The Global B2B Forex Award winners were announced in early June 2021, with CMC Markets Connect picking up the title for Best Trade Execution provider. The now-annual awards attracted over 9,000 votes from industry peers, providing further validation of the high-quality service we are able to deliver, thanks in no small part to our ongoing investment in the technology we run on.
