LeapRate Exclusive Interview… Continuing a theme we’ve reported on lately of leading Retail Forex brokers changing things up, LeapRate has learned that Swissquote Group Holding SA (SWX:SQN) has changed its logo, launched a new and updated website, and has plans for a new brand identity.
We are pleased to speak with Jan De Schepper, Head of Marketing at Swissquote, about all the changes and what’s ahead for Switzerland’s leading online broker.
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LR: Hi Jan, and thanks for joining us today. Please let us know a little more about your decision to redo the Swissquote logo, and to do a general refresh of the Swissquote brand.
Jan De Schepper, Swissquote
Jan: Swissquote is not a simple generic forex broker. We are the leading Swiss online bank with more than 300,000 client accounts, over CHF 16 billion in assets under management and over 500 employees.
Our mission is to challenge conventions by creating pioneering platforms, tools and banking solutions for our clients. The new brand identity is the visual expression of our refined brand mission.
We are confident, Swiss, black for authority, orange for creativity and enthusiasm and white for transparency and excellence. We see our brand as the organizing principle that drives all business activities. Every service and product, every customer touchpoint, every piece of communication must reinforce the brand mission and brand values. Brand consistency and salience is the name of the game. We cannot afford anymore to communicate differently depending on the service we offer.
LR: Are there other cosmetic (and non-cosmetic) changes in the work at Swissquote?
Jan: We want to be the leading-light of the industry, also in terms of marketing.
The logo change is just one element of the general brand refresh. We have also developed a new corporate website (swissquote.com), changed our advertising approach, elaborated new house writing rules, restructured our search advertising and increased our social media presence. The most visible change is related to our partnership with Manchester United. We have renegotiated the global sponsoring deal with the most loved football club in the world to have strong visibility on the digital boards and interview backdrop. I am confident that this will quickly increase the brand awareness in our priority markets in Asian and the Gulf region.
LR: You have a unique perspective on Brexit, given that Swissquote is based in Europe but is headquartered in a non-EU/MiFID country. How do you think Brexit will affect the large UK brokerage community, several of which are your competitors? And how did the whole wild trading around the time of the Brexit vote affect Swissquote?
Jan: We are not in a position to speculate on any potential upcoming regulatory changes for UK brokerage firms, but we continue to monitor the regulatory environment in the jurisdictions where we do business and make necessary adjustments to our business models when necessary. As the UK-EU referendum was a planned event, we were prepared to mitigate the potential risks before the vote and manage the volatility once the voting results were released. Our systems worked well during one of the highest trading volume days of the year.
LR: What can we expect to see from Swissquote in the coming months?
Jan: The last customer satisfaction study has revealed that our clients highly value the relationship with the Swissquote staff. 67% of our current FX traders have recommended Swissquote in the past. We want to leverage this high recommendation level by developing a referral program that rewards our happy clients. We will further work on our offer to increase our relevance for institutional clients and Introducing Brokers. And we want to stimulate the trading activity with better educational support, event specific webinars and trading competitions.