Maria Iacob PRIVATE CLIENT ADVISOR
Q You came from an engineering background; how did you start in FX. That’s quite a difference? The switch to fx was a happy coincidence. At the time, my specialty was indeed programming, but I studied accounting in high school and university as well. Having previously worked in customer support, I was invited for an interview with one of the top fx firms in Cyprus by a friend working in the industry. At the end of the interview, I said ‘Look, I don’t know much about short term trading, but I’m willing to learn. All I need is a chance to prove myself.’ And so I worked very hard every single day of more than 6 years to reward the people who believed in me.
Q You now work in wealth management. Why did you make the transition into this part of the financial industry? In fx I helped clients achieve their short-term goals. However, during our conversations I found that many of them saw intraday trading not only as a potential source of income, but also as a mean to achieve their long-term plans. Contracts For Difference (CFD) are complex products carrying a high degree of risk, however they attract a large number of inexperienced investors that end up losing their lifetime savings because there’s practically a total lack of specialist financial advice. It’s like trying to cross a busy street whilst being blindfolded – you know where you are, you know where you want to go, but you don’t know how to get there. In my experience, people walk into the world of money blindfolded. And that’s something I’m looking to change.
GAME CHANGERS Issue #24
Maria Iacob Private Client Advisor
Q Wealth management has always struck me as a male dominated industry. Is this the case? It appears to be a dry industry, is that the case? Wealth management has always been a male dominated industry for the simple fact that we used to live in a patriarchy. The man was the one providing for the family, therefore the financial decisions rested with him. As the paradigm shifted towards women taking control over their future, building careers and becoming financially independent, there’s been an increase in the number of female executives, female financial advisers. For example, according to a study published by S&P Global Market Intelligence mid-October, female CFOs working in Russell 3000 companies brought in $1.8 trillion more than their male predecessors. One of the reasons is that they’re held to higher standards thus generating outstanding results.
