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Multi-asset brokerage house Marex Spectron sounded like it had had enough of the FX market in August 2014, stating that demand for foreign-exchange services had fallen and that this part of its business was not a notable revenue generator. It began building its global FX business only two years earlier.
However, in October the firm launched a new FX platform, which includes a desktop and mobile app for FX and precious metal spot trading and market monitoring.
David Govett, Marex Spectron’s head of FX, describes the absence of foreign exchange from the firm’s service offering as a glaring omission. Despite being with the firm since 2011, he was not involved in the decision to withdraw from the market.
“Over recent years, I have done some internal hedging for the firm and the more we looked at expanding the precious metals and OTC business, a consensus emerged that if we kept it tight and offered something that was attractive to clients who were already trading, we could re-enter the FX business,” he says.
Govett is realistic about the task he faces.
“We haven’t looked at the FX brokerage market and thought ‘this is a market we absolutely have to get into and this is a wonderful time to get into it’, but our clients have been asking why they can’t trade currencies,” he says.
