HonorFX Opens Representative Office in Dubai

Finance Magnates spoke with Andrew Ishchuk, CEO of HonorFX, who dives into the company's expansion and growing market footprint in the Middle East.

Are there any expansionary plans in the works at HonorFX and where is the company trying to expand its market footprint?

We have recently opened a new representative office in Dubai spanning 4000 Sqft at API Tower, Skh Zayed Road. This office would be our new headquarters, which would aid us to work swiftly considering we are expanding globally. The main target markets remain MENA, South-East Asia, and China. This office would serve as a sales and customer service centre.

Having obtained our FSC Mauritius License in 2020, the introduction of our Dubai office is a continuation of our international expansion and a stronger foothold in the MENA region to serve our Arabic, Hindi and English-speaking client base. We are excited to greet clients in our new office to provide them with a personal touch.

The retail brokerage scene continues to evolve in 2022. In what ways has HonorFX adapted to this shifting landscape and staying ahead of the competition?

Since we ventured into the retail market in 2018, our growth has been steady and gradual. HonorFX has enjoyed considerable brand resonance amongst the trading community, which we mainly attribute to the word-of-mouth client references that we get due to our excellent track record and customer service.

To have a competitive advantage, we invested heavily in back-office technology and optimised our clients' onboarding process and their entire journey with us. It is further enhanced by our customised CRM, which we have developed in-house.

We concentrated on the B2B sales and served as Prime Brokerage as well. Thus, in 2021, we were able to open a good number of White Label and liquidity clients.

What are the biggest challenges in 2022 for retail brokers?

Although we have a fair pricing policy, in fact, one of the best in the markets, Managing Client expectations is the main challenge we face today. With fierce competition in this sector, other players in the market have set unrealistic expectations by offering big bonuses, crazy leverages, high rebates etc., which ultimately would affect the credibility of the industry as a whole in the long run if not properly managed.

Secondly, with online trading substantially increasing in the past two years of COVID, many start-up companies have set shop in the recent past without being adequately regulated by credible authorities and having less experience. Therefore, investors must thoroughly check before indulging in trade with such companies.

Do you foresee any trends developing amongst retail clients, such as an increased emphasis on crypto, more CFDs offering, or exposure to NFTs, etc?

In the last quarter of 2021, cryptocurrency showed a lot of volatility. It wasn’t the best of times for these products. It was somewhat like what we had experienced with Binary Options. We all know what happened to it, so I do feel that experienced clients are now slowly moving away from cryptocurrency and venturing again into the more traditional markets like forex, CFD’s etc.

Talking about NFTs, I do think it has potential. First of all, it does not quite come under the financial sphere, but there is art it, and it's wonderful. However, in traditional finance, investment funds used indices to diversify by betting on 500 companies (in the case of S&P500) instead of just one. And nowadays, these exchange-traded funds are now filled with NFTs. Hence, despite it being a considerable risk, NFTs are gaining exposure and may improve over time as the market develops.

Are there any developments or new offerings in the pipeline at HonorFX?

We are continuously developing some new products and services. Every month I review our business processes and metrics for all departments. I can say for sure that we are not resting on our laurels and are confidently improving our existing offerings.

We have PAMM account in the pipeline, which we are about to launch by the end of the first quarter of 2022. This will be an investment decision, as we saw the demand in 2021 from our clients who would like to invest and benefit from the experience of successful traders. Our task is to organize a bridge between them since both parties are our clients.

Regarding the offers and promotions, we are famous for them. Moreover, clients know that we provide justified offers and bonuses as we don’t want them to spoil the market. Still, with HonorFX, you would find at least five active offers that we are catering to at any point in time. This is in addition to the 275+ trading instruments we provide at market prices with the ease of 16 different payment methods.