Alfa Capital Names Andrew Gibson Head of Institutional FX Sales

Alfa Capital Holdings, the Cyprus-based investment arm of the Alfa Banking group installed Andrew Gibson in March as Head of Institutional FX Sales.

Gibson brings with him more than three decades of experience in the finance industry, with terms at major industry giants such as BCS Financial Group, Fastmatch, Tradair, and ABN Amro Clearing Bank NV.

Will Gibson Boost Cyprus's Profile?

Most recently, Gibson worked as an FX consultant for a Dutch agency called SGB BV, whose website caters to brokerages and exchanges seeking help with setting up platform technology, Liquidity , banking services and regulatory compliance for successful launches into the European markets.

Does the Alfa Capital Holdings appointment signal a renewed emphasis on Cyprus as a soft point of entry into the European trading market, especially as a no-deal Brexit comes closer to possibly pushing London from the throne it’s held so long?

Alfa Capital Holdings Moves to Institutional Sales

For its part, Alfa Capital Holdings must undoubtedly be hoping that Gibson can put the company on a positive track. Since May 2018, Alfa Capital Holdings has no longer been able to service Russian clients after the Bank of Russia began to review whether to give parent company Alpha Forex a professional forex dealer license.

This license was confirmed on December 20, 2018, and also saw a number of foreign companies losing their licenses. With declining openings in retail FX trading, it would make sense for Alfa Capital to seek out a veteran as head of institutional FX sales opportunities, especially one with the record of Andrew Gibson.

A Long-Term Appointment?

One question that the appointment brings to mind is whether this hire represents a long term shift in strategy, or if Gibson has been pulled in to form an initial template which will be fully implemented by another team in the future. Notably, since leaving a six-year position at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. in 2014, few of his subsequent roles lasted for more than a year, and many were only active for a few months.