Nick Cooke Reveals Zenfinex’s International Expansion Plan
- The brokerage opened five international offices and applied for regulatory licenses.
In a crowded market of trading platforms, many small brokers are aggressively scaling their operations up, especially after the demand surge last year. UK-based Zenfinex, which was founded in 2017 by industry veteran Nick Cooke, is aiming high to tap new international markets.
In a chat with Cooke, Finance Magnates learned that the ‘boutique brokerage’ is expanding in Asia and the Middle East, applying for multiple regulatory licenses.
“We’ve focused on the UK market initially through our FCA license,” Cooke said. “Our next goal is to move into other regions with Asia and the Middle East being two key regions of focus for the group. We are in the process of a number of regulatory license applications which will assist with expansion plans to gain footprints in these regions.”
Zenfinex is primarily operating with its Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) license gained in early 2019 and the implications of Brexit has forced the broker to suspend its European operations. “We have removed ourselves from acquiring European business until we can completely understand equivalence rules post- Brexit Brexit Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades.The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter. While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal. Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time. Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with EuropeWhile the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021.Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy. For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades.The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter. While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal. Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time. Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with EuropeWhile the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021.Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy. For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Read this Term,” Cooke added.
“We have had discussions internally regarding applying for an EU license. We may consider an EU presence in our future plans however not at this stage.”
Building Technologies in-House
Though the broker is still in line to gain additional licenses, it has already established five international offices in 2020 in the markets where it is aiming to target. “Once the necessary regulatory permissions are approved in these key regions, we will allocate budget to expand our team and marketing efforts,” he said.
But, the UK-headquartered brokerage is not limited to geographical expansion. Cooke finds technological advancements to be a driving force for any brokerage company and thus ‘made significant investments into two technology companies.’
Zenfinex is aiming to develop its trading technologies in-house by the second-half of 2021.
“While MetaTrader is still the most popular platform in the industry, we believe investment into our own technology stack not only adds value to the group, it also allows us to drive our longer-term vision with a bit more control of our destiny reducing the reliance on external vendors,” Cooke elaborated.
Copy Trading Is Very Popular
The brokerage, which targets both retail and professional traders, is expanding its services and products to hold on to its client base and also target the rookie traders. It partnered with Pelican Trading by the end of last year for offering copy trading services, which is a hit among new traders who can simply copy the strategies of professionals.
“While the majority of our clients tend to self-trade making their own trading decisions, there is definitely an uptick in appetite for others to learn from and copy experts. It’s certainly a growing trend and one that we did not want to miss,” Cooke added.
“Our trade expert leader board is gathering momentum with many putting up solid trading stats and history. We have plans in 2021 to further expand this service. It’s an interesting area of the trading community and certainly one to watch.”
‘We Aim to Build Zenfinex into a Multi-Asset Trading Hub’
“We are in the process of researching the necessary regulatory requirements to offer an innovative crypto solution for clients,” he said.
With many developments, 2020 turned out to be an impressive year for Zenfinex, which also raised £5 million in funding. Now, Cooke believes that 2021 will be ‘strongly geared towards continuing to serve our clients’ needs in the most efficient and productive manner, whilst continuing to pioneer technology innovation and remain ahead of industry trends to provide the best possible trading experience’.
“While competition remains high with a number of long-standing brands, we believe Zenfinex is well-positioned to quickly become a reputable global player with great ambition and a talented team.”
In a crowded market of trading platforms, many small brokers are aggressively scaling their operations up, especially after the demand surge last year. UK-based Zenfinex, which was founded in 2017 by industry veteran Nick Cooke, is aiming high to tap new international markets.
In a chat with Cooke, Finance Magnates learned that the ‘boutique brokerage’ is expanding in Asia and the Middle East, applying for multiple regulatory licenses.
“We’ve focused on the UK market initially through our FCA license,” Cooke said. “Our next goal is to move into other regions with Asia and the Middle East being two key regions of focus for the group. We are in the process of a number of regulatory license applications which will assist with expansion plans to gain footprints in these regions.”
Zenfinex is primarily operating with its Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) license gained in early 2019 and the implications of Brexit has forced the broker to suspend its European operations. “We have removed ourselves from acquiring European business until we can completely understand equivalence rules post- Brexit Brexit Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades.The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter. While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal. Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time. Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with EuropeWhile the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021.Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy. For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades.The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter. While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal. Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time. Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with EuropeWhile the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021.Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy. For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Read this Term,” Cooke added.
“We have had discussions internally regarding applying for an EU license. We may consider an EU presence in our future plans however not at this stage.”
Building Technologies in-House
Though the broker is still in line to gain additional licenses, it has already established five international offices in 2020 in the markets where it is aiming to target. “Once the necessary regulatory permissions are approved in these key regions, we will allocate budget to expand our team and marketing efforts,” he said.
But, the UK-headquartered brokerage is not limited to geographical expansion. Cooke finds technological advancements to be a driving force for any brokerage company and thus ‘made significant investments into two technology companies.’
Zenfinex is aiming to develop its trading technologies in-house by the second-half of 2021.
“While MetaTrader is still the most popular platform in the industry, we believe investment into our own technology stack not only adds value to the group, it also allows us to drive our longer-term vision with a bit more control of our destiny reducing the reliance on external vendors,” Cooke elaborated.
Copy Trading Is Very Popular
The brokerage, which targets both retail and professional traders, is expanding its services and products to hold on to its client base and also target the rookie traders. It partnered with Pelican Trading by the end of last year for offering copy trading services, which is a hit among new traders who can simply copy the strategies of professionals.
“While the majority of our clients tend to self-trade making their own trading decisions, there is definitely an uptick in appetite for others to learn from and copy experts. It’s certainly a growing trend and one that we did not want to miss,” Cooke added.
“Our trade expert leader board is gathering momentum with many putting up solid trading stats and history. We have plans in 2021 to further expand this service. It’s an interesting area of the trading community and certainly one to watch.”
‘We Aim to Build Zenfinex into a Multi-Asset Trading Hub’
“We are in the process of researching the necessary regulatory requirements to offer an innovative crypto solution for clients,” he said.
With many developments, 2020 turned out to be an impressive year for Zenfinex, which also raised £5 million in funding. Now, Cooke believes that 2021 will be ‘strongly geared towards continuing to serve our clients’ needs in the most efficient and productive manner, whilst continuing to pioneer technology innovation and remain ahead of industry trends to provide the best possible trading experience’.
“While competition remains high with a number of long-standing brands, we believe Zenfinex is well-positioned to quickly become a reputable global player with great ambition and a talented team.”