LeapRate Exclusive Interview… While the story of every company and how it got to where it is may be different, that of CrescoFX is certainly unique carving a path from Canada to central Asia and then back to Europe.
We reported exclusively last month on CrescoFX becoming the latest in a string of foreign based FX brokers setting up shop in London and receiving an FCA license. We’re pleased to speak today with CrescoFX founder and CEO Derek Mayne on his journey from oil & gas engineer to FX entrepreneur, as well as what brought his Malta licensed firm to London and its plans for the future.
Derek Mayne, CrescoFX
LR: Hi Derek, and thanks for joining us today. Please let us know a little more about your journey from oil and gas engineer to FX entrepreneur. How did you go about setting up CrescoFX?
Derek: It’s a bit of a long story so I’ll try and give you the short version!
I was recruited by a major petroleum company while I was doing my PhD at the University of Calgary to work on a project in Kazakhstan. Working overseas threw me into the world of real transaction FX and quickly opened my eyes as I was now dealing with USD, CAD, GBP, EUR and even KZT. I started with some macro view trades to simplify my life, for example, changing my salary from USD to EUR which is still one of my best trades to date.
Several years later, I was taking a career break and started to explore trading as an asset class as my macro and hedging strategy had been quite successful. Through my journey learning how to trade, I recognised a need in the market for the professional trader as most of the people I met described what they really wanted in a broker. I started to research how to set up a broker and put the wheels in motion to setup CrescoFX. These things are always slightly more complicated than they seem but I feel quite lucky as the people I met in the early days were fantastic and always willing to help.
LR: You’ve held a license in Malta for four years already. What does adding an FCA license now do for you?
Derek: Our business has evolved over the past four years and so must our structure to meet the needs of our clients. Moving to the UK and adding the FCA license will add larger funds and family offices to our target client list as well as a group of UK based retail clients. We only had to be asked a few times by prospective clients based in the UK: I’m based here, why would I open a relationship with a company in Malta?
As our Asset Management company is also located in the UK, it made sense to centralise operations and minimise our costs.
LR: Are you going to be focusing on the Retail or Institutional FX market out of your UK arm? In any event, aren’t both of those areas already ultra-competitive? What does CrescoFX bring to the table?
Derek: CrescoFX competes first and foremost on service, no matter what the market sector. We compete by listening to our clients and giving them what they ask for.
LR: What’s your view on the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading? Is that going to be an active area for CrescoFX?
Derek: Crypto is here to stay, it will be subject to some level of scrutiny and increase the need for KYC/AML checks if it becomes deliverable. At this time, we don’t have huge demand from our clients but we do expect this to increase steadily and we are ready for when they ask.
LR: What else can we expect to hear from CrescoFX in the coming months?
Derek: We are currently working Prime of Prime service this will be unique to the market in Q1/Q2 next year! I can’t give you any details but we’re obviously quite excited about the new technology and partners. Watch this space…