iFX Expo catch-up: what’s on everyone’s mind right now?

Author: Petros Kalaitzis

Only a few days ago, the TFB team attended the iFX Expo in Cyprus. We met many industry experts, listened to knowledgeable speakers, and participated in a few panel discussions. Today, we’ll highlight the key ideas and thoughts circulating at the event and caught the attention of the fintech crowd.

#1 The prop trading machine doesn’t stop

The prop trading talk dominated the space throughout the Expo. Prop trading companies have been trending for several months and reinventing themselves with new trader competitions, robust technology, and new, stronger ethics. In the past, there were many concerns over how honest the prop trading firms actually were with their clients, but it is clear that this issue is in the past.

The new generation of prop trading businesses appears open to criticism and change, leading others by example in providing fair conditions and transparency into the entire process.

A vital point suggested by several market players was that prop trading firms have to triple-check the partnerships they sign up for. The partner you work with can make or break your business, so due diligence and research shouldn’t be skipped in favour of launching a trading competition sooner.

#2 Yes, AI is still huge

Not surprisingly, AI was one of the main topics that everyone seemed to mention one way or the other. We’ve talked about artificial intelligence in the financial world in one of our previous articles, so if you’re interested, please look at this blog post .

Companies with various profiles and focuses are looking into ways of implementing AI in their daily operations. And the shift that we noticed is that those who were previously looking to join the hype and create more brand awareness out of it are now seriously considering how the technology can optimise and improve their workflow.

#3 To build or to outsource, that is the question

The dilemma of outsourcing and buying ready-made solutions versus building tools in-house was brought up during one of the panel discussions.

At some point, the rule was that if you’re big enough, you build your own, and if you can’t afford a team – you purchase or outsource development. But that quickly changed once financial companies realised how much time and resource savings they could gain by relying on professionals to create the tools they needed.

So, what has the panel agreed on? The truth lies in the middle, as it usually does. Brokers and their financial peers would be better off partnering with a reliable technology provider, such as Tools for Brokers, but still ensuring they have control over what’s going on in their back office. With the Trade Processor liquidity bridge, brokers get an advanced solution that the TFB team supports, but they still have visibility into the settings and configuration, and, more importantly, they can make changes and customise the setup to make the most of the bridge.

What’s been happening with the bridge and other broker solutions over the last few years was that vendors would allow limited to no transparency and refuse custom tweaks or integrations for their clients. This has naturally been disturbing to brokers who didn’t feel like they “owned” their environments, and that resulted in resentment by many of them. If the brokerages now refuse to compromise and go with alternatives that give them freedom and confidence, they will end up in a win-win situation where they get instant access to mature and robust solutions without losing control over the situation.