Centroid Solutions DMCC RICHARD BARTLETT Head of Business Development at Centroid Solutions DMCC
Q Since we last spoke, I have seen in the media that you have had some big wins signing well-known brands to Centroid. How does this help your visibility? Centroid Solutions as a brand has been in the market for quite some time now as a pure risk management company, however, since the launch of our new execution and aggregation technology at the start of 2019, it is great to start getting exposure for this side of the business too with some of the bigger players in the market especially. It demonstrates to existing and potential clients that the main players in the sector trust us and are happy to be associated with us. This can only be a positive and there will be more to come in the near future. Q When a bigger brand takes on your product, is the decision-making process longer? In most cases the larger the entity is, there are invariably more people involved in any key decisions, so for sure this does result in a lengthier decision process compared to a smaller operation. In the case where a larger firm is actively looking to add to their technology setup, or, is perhaps not happy with their incumbent provider, the decision-making time will be drastically shorter as long as you can clearly demonstrate the advantages and performance of your product, which thankfully at Centroid we are able to do easily. Q One area that has gone under the radar is your exposure in Asia. How does it compare to Europe regarding volumes? Our exposure in Asia is certainly growing and it is an area we are very focussed on pushing into a lot more heavily. In Asia, as I see it the volumes are very strong overall with many brokers on the ground that are not necessarily recognisable names globally, but have significant volumes due to the huge popularity of FX Trading in APAC as a whole. This is why we are so keen to expand on our client base and awareness in the region. We did have several business trips planned to Asia but with the recent Covid-19 restrictions etc we have not been able to get on the ground and physically meet with all our clients and prospects, as we normally prefer to do.
Richard Bartlett Head of Business Development at Centroid Solutions DMCC
Q What are the differences in business culture? I have found often that Asian based businesses are far more ready to consider and review new technology even if they feel their existing tech is doing a good job. If there are clear benefits to a new technology, I also find they are more willing to make the change and the decision-making process is usually swift compared to many European based operations. One of the many reasons our technology is so popular in Asia, is the high level of automation that can be achieved. This is something that is definitely more favoured in Asia overall compared to Europe currently. Having said that, as the message is becoming clearer that intelligent automated systems can seriously improve risk adjusted returns compared to more traditional and manually focussed processes, the demand for these
P-7