Deltastock Chairman: 'There's Increasing Pressure Due to Overregulation'

Deltastock is a Bulgaria-based brokerage which deals with forex and precious metals trading, and CFDs on shares, indices, futures and ETFs. Andrey Stoychev, chairman of the firm's management board, talks to Finance Magnates about regulation, client feedback, and Cryptocurrencies .[gptAdvertisement]

Please tell a little about yourself and how you reached your current position.

I have been with Deltastock for 12 years now, and during that time I’ve been able to gain hands-on experience on virtually all company operations, which has helped me familiarize myself in detail with the work each department is doing. Consistent with my profile, it’s the Dealing Department that I’ve spent most time in – the dealing part of the job.

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My current position at Deltastock is Chairman of the Management Board, with my responsibilities lying mainly in Marketing and Business Development.

I actively participate as a lecturer in seminars and webinars organized by Deltastock. I am also a regular guest on financial programmes at different TV stations – Bloomberg TV Bulgaria, for instance. Prominent financial websites also contact me on a regular basis for comments on political and economic events.

What are your goals for the company over the next few years?

Naturally, our main goal is expanding our client base and maintaining the company as one of the big investment brokers… not only in Bulgaria. This still remains the goal we have pursued over the years, and is one of the things that have contributed to the development of our company.

And also offering competitive pricing and transparent trading conditions, of course, besides creating new investment opportunities. Our new DeltaSMART account, for instance, allows non-leveraged CFD trading in shares, ETFs, indices, gold and silver. We have had non-leveraged equities for some time now, but what is new now is that we are extending the offering to indices and precious metals - which is not that common with other brokers. Besides the lower risk, the clear incentive here is that we charge absolutely no fees or commissions on client trades, no matter their number or size. This new account is aimed at diversifying our product portfolio by giving the opportunity to long-term investors, including those who invest in shares, to benefit from our services.

And, of course, as a company with an international client base, we are constantly striving to meet all the specific requirements that are being set by the different regulators.

What do you think sets you apart from the competition?

We have always prided ourselves on our proprietary Trading Platform , which was developed in-house by our IT department – with the active support of other departments, of course. And that’s one of the things in which we differ from most brokers.

It’s also worth noting that a big part of the development process has been influenced by client feedback. The plus side here is that we can take into account different opinions – it’s easier to work that way, more flexible too. If we were to use a trading platform developed by a 3rd party, each software update would take much longer to be released; it would cost us more time and resources.

And, naturally, we are also putting genuine effort into adhering to the best execution practices, namely speed and quality of execution.

How do you view the current state of the industry?

Our industry has never been an easy one, especially now. Besides pressure from competitors, we also feel increasing pressure due to overregulation, which affects all aspects of our activity – from marketing to client relations. There are cumbersome procedures, for instance, for opening an account, software maintenance etc. In the future this could affect the quality of the services we offer to clients.

What new fields and opportunities do you see as having growth potential in the market?

Despite some of the things I said to the previous question, the opportunities are not diminishing – especially for brokers like us, who use a proprietary trading platform and who could react adequately and quickly to make changes to the software if needed, so that it meets the regulators’ requirements and client preferences.

Regarding trading instruments, the opportunities I see lie in the modern crypto currencies, which are becoming ever more popular, and there is a lot of potential there that has yet to see further development. And we are already exploring these opportunities.