Exclusive: OANDA Appoints Drew Izzo as Chief Marketing Officer

Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term Magnates reporters have reached out to OANDA for a comment after the company has announced that they have appointed Drew Izzo as a new Chief Marketing Officer. Having previously served OANDA, a global provider of innovative Forex Trading Forex Trading Forex trading is the buying and selling of foreign currencies with the aim of generating a profit. The value of currencies, especially floating currencies, fluctuate to varying degrees. This constant volatility of exchange rates opens the door for speculators to invest in a certain currency against another. The Forex market is the world’s biggest and most liquid market, with over $5 billion turnover every single day, with the market being open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.It goes without saying Forex trading is the buying and selling of foreign currencies with the aim of generating a profit. The value of currencies, especially floating currencies, fluctuate to varying degrees. This constant volatility of exchange rates opens the door for speculators to invest in a certain currency against another. The Forex market is the world’s biggest and most liquid market, with over $5 billion turnover every single day, with the market being open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.It goes without saying Read this Term services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Drew Izzo as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). He will lead the award-winning broker’s global communications and marketing strategies.

Drew Izzo has most recently served as Chief Executive Officer at Athlete.com, which is a company he also co-founded. He previously held several senior marketing roles for various companies including Interbank FX (IBFX), which was acquired by TradeStation back in 2012.

Forex Magnates reporters have reached out to OANDA to make a short interview with Mr. Izzo about his new position at the company to gather more information about what is changing in terms of marketing strategy at one of the leading FX brands.

You have experience working at a US based forex brokerage, IBFX, how challenging has marketing been since the new regulatory requirements introduced by Dodd-Frank?

The regulatory differences since Dodd Frank took effect are challenging to adopt to. Thankfully we have a strong compliance organisation to help us navigate those waters. We are not aiming to flex regulatory rules, rather we strive to provide the tools and technologies to help our customers make the most of their experience with our company. We will continue to be transparent in everything we do.

Our observations are that OANDA is known for being quite conservative in its marketing strategy. Do you plan to change that and how?

I wouldn't say it has been conservative. In the past word of mouth has been the company’s key driver of growth, I am here to scale that growth even further. Throughout my career I have scaled companies and I will apply those learnings to OANDA in a vary aggressive manner. Whats great is that we have a strong brand - we have added great talent across the world, as you have noticed our launch in Australia and the appointment of Gavin Ward And Louis Cooper and Daniel Skowronski in the UK. There will be more exciting announcements forthcoming, you will hear much more from OANDA globally going forward.

What would be you're main markets of focus in your new position and why?

OANDA is a global brand and we want to grow globally across the regions where we are regulated. That said, we will follow the volume and get regulated under new jurisdictions and in other parts of the world when the time comes.

Is OANDA currently using a network of affiliates/IBs and do you plan to do further work in that direction?

Historically OANDA hasn't been using introducing brokers, however that is about to change. We are in the process of evaluating partnerships, we will be incredibly selective in who we are partnering with and the costs will be fully transparent to our clients.

How challenging is it for a foreign company like OANDA to succeed in obtaining Japanese clients in that ultra-competitive environment?

I wouldn't say that we are a foreign company operating in Japan. After our acquisition of MyGaika in October 2010 we have a 100% local team and in the end the needs of Japanese clients are not that different from the needs of other clients across the world, so we are leveraging what we’ve built as far as the platform and execution technology to the local market. The Japanese market still has a significant potential for growth, so we will continue to focus a notable level of resources there.