LeapRate was the very first FX industry news source to champion the virtues of video and internet television, understanding that quite simply, television and video streaming via the internet and mobile devices via social media is the future.
With today’s launch of #SaxoStrats by Denmark’s esteemed Saxo Bank, it is indeed clear that the avantgarde companies in the industry are aligned with this dynamic.
LeapRate today spoke to Claus Nielsen, Head of Markets at Saxo Bank in order to expand on the importance of video and social media and how it will shape our industry.
LeapRate was the very first industry media source to highlight the importance of video for news and interaction with traders, especially via social media. How has this evolved and do you consider it as important as we do as a main component of the FX industry?
Yes, because video is the next best thing to being in person. At Saxo Bank, our digital ambitions are to facilitate investors’ insight into markets, trading strategies and, ultimately, the mind of the traders themselves.
Retail investors may not be able to achieve the same level of trading performance as professionals, but should feel well-equipped to understand and opine on asset allocation and SaxoStrats is just the latest tool to make our clients feel well-equipped to make informed investment decisions.
The younger generation are conducting their entire social life and interaction with the business community via social media, therefore what advantage do you consider #SaxoStrats to have over other firms in engaging new clients and maintaining them compared with firms which have not yet taken the video social media route?
I don’t think so necessarily, and I don’t expect all firms will take the social media route. Saxo Bank is a special case because we have technology and the internet in our DNA. We recognised the importance of the internet at an early stage in Saxo’s development and we have always been alert to innovation both as a means of enabling business but also as a way of creating opportunities for clients.
SaxoStrats is a great tool to analyse all of the information on the internet, access a real-time view of the market and identify solid trading ideas directly face-to-face via video directly to your mobile devices but it’s important for me to underline that video, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Periscope are just vehicles to make it easier for our clients – or even our potential clients – to access our strategies.
The video will also make our clients more familiar with the faces of our nine experts and get one step closer to the trading floor but our strategies will always be supported with text and advanced charting easy to read.
Social media and video is all-encompassing, therefore everything from advertising, to client service, to signals and news can be conducted via social media video directly streamed to mobile devices. Do you think that this format will very soon make the traditional banners and written-word websites obsolete?
Not entirely but peer-to-peer social media networks are a great way to engage clients who can then benefit from such networks by exchanging information and trading idea with their peers. Most retail clients today can download earnings documents, comparison charts, or follow financial news simply by searching the Internet. What we are offering with SaxoStrats is trading ideas for clients, our analysts’ real-time view of the markets and how that translates into real-time trading ideas.
In terms of cost saving for FX firms, how much more efficient is it to operate social media based live streaming to interact with clients on all aspects of the business compared to relying totally on an organic retention team?
It’s a two edged sword. I’m not an expert on social media but I know that digital-first, premium video content is about to, if it hasn’t already, hit its stride. That said, it’s costly and time-demanding to produce. As a result, I think we will see a lot more partnerships in this area because, unlike Saxo Bank, very few organizations can afford to run video content initiatives.
I would like our institutional clients to send their clients and users to connect to a peer-to-peer network centre like TradingFloor.com because it is an effective way to achieve critical mass, as well for smaller brokerages, to save money while delivering quality content and social media services like SaxoStrats.
What is the future for video in the FX industry?
Again, I’m not an expert but SaxoStrats is designed to cater for those clients who crave tradable information on the go and 75% of all internet traffic will be video within a couple of years. This is an important trend we cannot ignore and that’s why we have now launched SaxoStrats.
In general, I would say that those firms within the FX industry which embrace technology as a way of offering their clients a better investment experience have nothing to fear of the future. I think client services in the future will need to be content-driven and delivered via video but always supported with detailed text and charts.