ArgusFX Managing Director Talks about Regulation and Independence

ArgusFX is a recognised name in the online foreign exchange and CFD trading arena. The company, which was initiated in 2014, is a division of Argus Stockbrokers Ltd and is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and offers a range of services including asset management, global brokerage execution, investment advice and consultancy.

Finance Magnates has taken the opportunity to interview ArgusFX’s Managing Director, Harry Michaelides, to learn more about the company and his plans for the future.

The Beginnings

We began by asking Mr Michaelides when ArgusFX started trading and what inspired him to start the company:

“Argus Stockbrokers Ltd was founded back in 2000 and has been licensed since 2003. ArgusFX, the forex arm of the company started operating in 2014. Our core business is providing asset management services on financial instruments. In the early days, we mainly focused on servicing Provident funds, High Net Worth individuals, Investment companies, Hedge Funds, Equity funds and other institutional clients.

Having the experience, the regulatory framework, the relationships and all licenses needed we decided to expand our offering to the retail clientele as well. We saw a window of opportunity to introduce to the world a conservative solution with strict Risk Management Risk Management One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, One of the most common terms utilized by brokers, risk management refers to the practice of identifying potential risks in advance. Most commonly, this also involves the analysis of risk and the undertaking of precautionary steps to both mitigate and prevent for such risk.Such efforts are essential for brokers and venues in the finance industry, given the potential for fallout in the face of unforeseen events or crises. Given a more tightly regulated environment across nearly every asset class, Read this Term rules and tough regulatory procedures.

Regarding my role in the early days, when Argus Stockbrokers started, apart from being a shareholder, I was also a member of the board and director of Asset Management responsible for the derivative investments and exposure of the company's portfolios under management. As well as handling derivatives and leverage products, I created and managed the Foreign Exchange division of the company."

Mr Michaelides continued by elaborating on what differentiates ArgusFX from all the other forex brokers in the industry:

“Offering something different is what prompted the start of ArgusFX brand name and concept. We offer online trading on Foreign exchange, Metals and CFD instruments on indices, commodities and oil, and differentiate ourselves in the way we thoroughly understand the financial industry.

Having gained our experience in the fields of asset management we always take the conservative approach and ensure that we adhere to even stricter rules and regulations than what our regulator imposes on us.

We introduced and strictly follow an exclusive straight through processing approach (STP) and offer our clients interbank Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term from top tier international banks through multiple regulated Liquidity providers.

We have always adopted a very conservative approach with our company strategy and keep our clients satisfied with an excellent level of service. Even though we experienced major turmoil with Greece debt issues and Cypriot banks haircut, we never lost a single penny from our clients' funds. We have always acted proactively to safeguard our clients funds and have done so for years well before the events occurred.”

Moving On

Finance Magnates then questioned Mr Michaelides about the company’s association to IronFX as an introducing broker (IB):

“Due to our established conservative approach that we use in all our business decisions we decided to test the waters with FX first by becoming an IB of a Forex broker and chose IronFX.

In October, 2014 we made a concerted decision to continue alone as an independent broker in offering Foreign Exchange and other online CFD Financial instruments with our own MT4 server, and terminated our cooperation with IronFX.

This has been the situation since October 2014. We are totally independent and offer our trading services using our own internally developed infrastructure.”

Going Forward

Next, we asked Mr Michaelides if he could foresee any industry headwinds moving forward:

“I believe the Forex industry will eventually become more and more regulated. As far as we are concerned, this was the opportunity that we saw coming.

Companies like ArgusFX can only benefit from this. We were already taking a conservative approach in all the financial services we were providing and foreign exchange offering was not going to be different.

From the time the company was established, we have offered a completely transparent model. We provide our clients with the best products and services possible, backed by the solid experience of the founders, directors and staff in the financial and Foreign exchange industry. For others this will be a challenge, but for us it is an opportunity. Of course regulation and compliance comes at a cost but this will distinguish the professionals from the rest.”

The Future

Finally, Mr Michaelides gave Finance Magnates an insight into what plans are in the pipeline for H2 2016:

“ArgusFX’s business plan is to continue growing at a steady and solid pace. We have a new CFD offering coming up very soon which will cover indices, commodities and treasuries both as cash and future products. We are also launching an innovative idea through a new platform where clients can observe, analyse proper managed account strategies with real accounts and enhanced performance statistics.

We are proud of our company and its offerings, and look towards demonstrating this further as we pursue our plans to expand worldwide. We will continue to live by our motto which is “wise trading through prime service.”