Forex Magnates Summit 2012 Speakers

Drew Niv

CEO and co-founder, FXCM Inc

Mr. Niv has been instrumental in the success of two online foreign exchange firms. Prior to co-founding FXCM, Mr. Niv served as Director of Marketing for MG Financial Group. In 1999, Mr. Niv left MG Financial to start FXCM. At FXCM, Mr. Niv is primarily responsible for creating and coordinating marketing initiatives, strategic alliances, and personnel decisions. The company was immediately successful, and by the end of the first year was trading $250 million a month. Since then the FXCM Group has grown to become one of the largest companies in retail forex. In December of 2010 FXCM became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, another pivotal moment in the history of the company led by Mr. Niv. Niv attributes FXCM’s success to an “iron focus” on customer service, and to the fact that it has been the driving force behind many innovations in the retail industry, including the introduction of mini accounts and delivery of live streaming market analysis to clients. FXCM is proud to have spearheaded bringing No Dealing Desk execution to the forex market in 2007. Other brokers and platforms are now following suit. The company services clients from regional headquarters in New York, London, Hong Kong and Australia; with local offices in Italy, Greece, Germany, Dubai, and France. It maintains websites in 12 languages, and personalized customer service over a dozen languages. Mr. Niv graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1995.

Lars Seier Christensen

Founder & co-CEO, Saxo Bank

Together with co-founder and CEO Kim Fournais, Lars Seier Christensen has received great recognition for developing Saxo Bank into one of the key players in the investment industry, both in Denmark and in the international marketplace. Seier Christensen has been involved in derivative sales and trading since 1987 and he worked in London at both European and American brokerage firms until 1995. In 1992, Seier Christensen and Fournais founded the Danish service broker, Midas. Since 1995, Seier Christensen and Fournais have managed the company together. In 2001, Midas was granted a banking license and officially changed its name to Saxo Bank A/S. In 2007, Lars Seier Christensen and Kim Fournais received the coveted Achievement Award from FX Week in New York. The award was given for their outstanding contribution and their strong commitment to the success of the e-FX industry. Over the years, Saxo Bank has received a multitude of international awards for its unique online trading platform, SaxoTrader. With the development of SaxoTrader, Saxo Bank has secured a strong position in online investment trading. The combination of innovative technology and a unique understanding of the global capital markets have been instrumental to the success of the Bank. More than 100 partnerships all over the world have helped ensure Saxo Bank's success. In November of 2007, Saxo Bank partnered up with Citibank, the largest bank in the U.S. Lars Seier Christensen has shown great interest in social affairs and does not hesitate with involving himself in public political debates.

Daniel Skowronski

UK CEO, Alpari

Daniel Skowronski took on the role of Chief Commercial Officer at Alpari (UK) in 2011, alongside his responsibilities as CEO of Alpari (US), a position he has held since 2010. Formerly the Managing Director at Currenex(r), Daniel played a crucial role in the development of technological solutions for the company's retail offering. Daniel brings to the Alpari companies almost 20 years of experience within the Forex industry. He is responsible for driving the companies' ambitious global expansion plans and spearheading major new technology initiatives to further position the Alpari brand in the Forex markets worldwide.

Oki Matsumoto

Founder and CEO, Monex Group, Inc. Japan

After graduating from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Law in 1987, Oki Matsumoto began his career at Salomon Brothers Asia Limited. He then joined Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd., where he was responsible for FX and fixed income products and related risk management as a General Partner and Co-head of FX/Fixed income business at Tokyo Branch. It was in April 1999 that Matsumoto jointly established (the former) Monex, Inc. with Sony Corporation. Monex, Inc. integrated its management with Nikko Beans Inc. in August 2004, forming Monex Beans Holdings, Inc. (currently Monex Group, Inc.), of which Matsumoto is the Representative Director, Chairman and CEO. Matsumoto currently serves as an External Director for the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group, Inc., Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. and Kakaku.com, Inc.

Harpal Sandhu

President & CEO, Integral

Harpal Sandhu founded Integral in 1993 to transform wholesale capital markets through the use of advanced technology. In the late 1990s, Harpal led Integral in the development of a global data grid to electronically connect the world's major financial institutions into the first integrated trading network for foreign exchange and interest-rate derivative products. That effort, now known as FX Grid is the basis of Integral's highly successful product line. Prior to founding Integral, Harpal was founder and president of Infinity Financial Technology, a leading supplier of software products for the financial services industry, which was acquired by SunGard Data Systems in 1998. Harpal began his career as a financial engineer in the Capital Markets Product Development Group at Morgan Stanley & Company. Harpal holds a BA from Stanford University. He is also a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences.

Stephen Lynch

Director, Nomura

Stephen Lynch has been working in the financial services for 18 years in various front office positions. He moved into the Electronic Markets industry in 1992 with RBS being one of the founding members of the Product management team for the Fixed Income Division. Stephen moved to Asia in 2005 building the Electronic markets franchise for RBS throughout the region and then moved to BNP Paribas Singapore in 2009 heading of the Electronic markets business with a specific Focus on the e-FX market. Stephen left BNP Paribas in 2012 to take up his current role as Executive Director, APAC Head of Electronic Markets.

Lior Nabat

Founder, CEO, Tradency

After initial unsuccessful forays into the Forex market, Nabat conducted his own research with his friend and now partner, Udi Gershon. By 2005, they had begun to form Tradency and had brought in two more partners, Gil Eyal and Greg Hay, to help develop and grow the business. Nabat, with the help of his partners, had developed an automated Forex trading software solution involving signal providers and originated the Mirror Trading concept, which is now enjoying success and taking Forex trading to the next level.

Stephen Best

CEO, FX Bridge

Stephen Best is Chief Executive Officer. He oversees the management, operation, and strategic direction of FX Bridge Technologies Corporation. Over the past 10 years, he has focused on the implementation of complex electronic trading initiatives at large financial institutions. He joined FX Bridge from State Street Global Markets, where he was Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Electronic Trading & Distribution. In this role, Stephen was responsible for FX algorithmic trading and electronic sales. Previously, Stephen was Managing Director, Global Head of eCommerce Strategy for JPMorgan’s Global Currencies & Commodities Group. During his 20 year career in financial markets, Stephen has held derivative trading and sales roles at RBC, UBS and Deutsche Bank. He received his M.B.A. (Finance) from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto and his B.A. (Economics & Politics) from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

Asaf Yigal

co-founder, Currensee

When he’s not building the product, he’s using it. Asaf is a software engineer-turned-Forex trader and plays the role of business strategist, product architect and people officer. He is a man with a vision who has the unique ability to think and execute. He’s been around the block and brings 15 years of technical development experience to us at Currensee. Prior to co-founding Currensee, Asaf was a member of the founding tech team at Onaro, which was acquired by NetApp for $130M. At Onaro, Asaf wore a bunch of different hats. He did everything from party-planning the company outings to setting the overall product architecture. How's that for versatile? He was responsible for releasing the early versions of the product and building out the professional services practice in the company. Now we know where he got his patience and polite phone skills. Previously, Asaf was Project Manager for an algorithmic research project in the Israeli Navy, which comes in handy when trying to explain the Fibonacci method to Dave. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Technion Israel Institute of Technology and enjoys good a Scotch, rolls his own sushi and lives in Boston.

Tim Howkins

CEO, IG Group

Tim has a first class degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Reading. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young and is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. Tim was one of a group of partners and staff who left Ernst & Young in 1990 to form Rees Pollock, a firm of chartered accountants targeted at entrepreneurial, owner-managed businesses. Tim was a partner in Rees Pollock for seven years and was the partner responsible for the Group’s audit. He then joined IG Group as Finance Director in 1999, and became Chief Executive in 2006. During the year, Tim was appointed as a Board Member of the Futures and Options Association.

Glenn Stevens

CEO, GAIN Capital

Glenn Stevens, chief executive officer of GAIN Capital, is a financial industry veteran with more than 25 years trading and foreign exchange (FX) experience at some of Wall Street's most prestigious financial institutions. Mr. Stevens drives the strategic goals of the company and oversees all of its business units. He joined GAIN Capital in February 2000 as a founding partner and managing director, and assumed the CEO role in June 2007. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Mr. Stevens is an active leader in the retail forex industry. He serves on the National Futures Association's FX Advisory Committee and is a founding member of the Foreign Exchange Dealer's Coalition (FXDC). Previously, Mr. Stevens was managing director, head of North American sales and trading at Natwest Bank. In this role, Mr. Stevens directly managed a staff of more than 50 trading and sales professionals and also served as a senior member of Natwest's North American Management Committee. From 1990 to 1997, Mr. Stevens was at Merrill Lynch and Co., where he was hired as a USD/JPY trader and was eventually promoted to managing director and chief dealer for spot and forward FX. While at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Stevens developed the investment bank's emerging markets currency trading desk and increased profitability threefold in two years. During this time, he also served as the Federal Reserve Bank's FX representative for investment banks. Mr. Stevens' Wall Street career began in 1984 at Bankers Trust Company. He is a sought after FX market commentator and spokesperson for the retail FX industry, frequently appearing in financial news outlets. Mr. Stevens holds a B.S. in finance from Bucknell University and an MBA in finance from Columbia University.

Owen Kerr

CEO, Pepperstone

CEO and Co-Founder of Pepperstone. Experienced Entrepreneur and Executive passionate about Foreign Exchange, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Graduate qualifications in Information Technology and Business. Former finance executive with Ernst & Young and PriceWaterhouseCoopers specialising in brokerage infrastructure with a key client portfolio of Goldman Sachs and National Australia Bank. Recently voted one of Australia’s top 30 Entrepreneurs under 30 years old by Anthill Magazine.

Leon Okun

co-founder, SpotOption

Leon Okun is Co-Founder of today's largest Binary Options platform provider, SpotOption. Mr. Okun began activities at SpotOption in 2009, and prior to SpotOption, he played an intricate role in the launching of other successful forex companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial ventures, Mr. Okun also owned a software development company. Mr. Okun's area of expertise lies in software development, and the production of large scale technological solutions. Part of his developments include an established auction system, as well as health telemedicine software utilized by the NHS in the UK. Today, Mr. Okun focuses his expertise on leading SpotOption, mainly in the fields of Risk Management, Technology, and Product.

Anil Abbak

Managing Director, FXTCR

Anıl Abbak received his BSc. with honors from Yeditepe University in Mathematics and gave his dissertation on Game Theory. He further continued his M.Sc. studies with a scholarship from Politecnico Di Milano, Italy on Financial Engineering. During this time, he conducted extensive research on the global financial derivatives market. His professional career started as a Technical Analyst and Technical Analysis Tutor in TeletradeDJ. He then served in bForex in various departments including key account sales, trading and analysis. Having ground experience on different fields lead him to assume management responsibilities. Prior to the FX Market regulation in Turkey, he was lastly heading the Alpari Turkey office and operations. As well as publishing a number of industry reviews, market analysis and commentaries on several industry journals, he is a frequent visitor of financial programmes on TV. He has also given a series of seminars and taught courses in different universities, chambers and unions concentrating on forex markets and technical analysis. He is now the Managing Director of FXTCR, the brand new forex initiative of Tacirler Securities, the leading broker in Turkish capital markets for 21 years. He has introduced two forex books for Turkish traders, and speaks Turkish, English, Italian, Russian and German.

Peter Tatarnikov

Managing Partner, GFF Consultants Inc

Peter has 12 years experience in the Forex Industry. He started his career as trading desk assistant back in 1999 and in 2003 he filled a Chief Dealer position in one of the largest retail Forex broker in Russia - Forex Club. Under his leadership, Forex Club's Dealing Department was expanded by fivefold, uniting top Forex trading professionals. In-depth knowledge of FX operations and high managerial skills brought Peter to a COO position at Forex Club USA in 2006 and in 2010 he earned a CEO chair. During his career, Peter designed and held over 200 seminars on Forex Trading. His professionalism and commitment has made him a well known FX market commentator and spokesperson for the retail FX industry. He has frequently appeared in financial news outlets.

Harry Moumdjian

Executive Director, Morgan Stanley

Harry Moumdjian is an Executive Director of Morgan Stanley and Head of eDistribution for the Americas. In this role, he is responsible for eCommerce Sales and eProduct Strategy for the foreign exchange and emerging market division. Harry joined the Firm in 2010 from Goldman Sachs. He has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Seton Hall University and started his career in 1998 at the National Bank of Kuwait in NY.

Andrew Ralich

Co-Founder, oneZero

Andrew has extensive experience in both the software development and financial technology fields. Andrew was awarded a patent for work on a data migration utility for Goldman Sachs during his time at EMC (July 2005-Feb. 2008). Andrew founded reThink LLC (Nov. 2007-Feb. 2009), a software consulting firm targeted at financial applications and algorithmic trading systems. Through multiple successful projects for technology firms, managed funds and brokerages, Andrew has gained experience in advanced trading systems development, back-office system development, and enterprise risk management. Andrew has converged his programming expertise, options trading experience and ability to identify enterprise level solutions for brokerages, managers and traders in his role at oneZero Financial. Andrew has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Ran Strauss

co-CEO, Leverate

Ran Strauss is one of the original founders of Leverate and currently hails as Co-CEO. Mr. Strauss overlooks business and operational aspects in the company and has extensive connections to Leverate’s clients. His industry insight combined with his passion for technology have kept Leverate at the vanguard of the financial technology industry.

Andrey Pavlov

co-founder and CEO, Spotware Systems

Andrey brings 15 years of experience in the financial services industry to Spotware Systems, where his company delivers high-performing manual and algorithmic trading platforms to banks and brokers, servicing both institutional and retail traders. After earning a BA Hons from Regent's Business School London, Andrey went on to hold positions at some of the world's most notable financial services institutions, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Citigroup Private Bank, where he served in various positions for the Treasury and eServices divisions. He carries over 10 years' experience at such financial institutions as Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, NatWest and others. Andrey has built and sold a number of companies, including Arbatek, a major e-services provider in Eastern Europe, acquired by the RBC Group in 2007. His experience with financial markets and software, coupled with his foresight and a resolve to influence the future of Spot FX, has led to Spotware's excellent success in creating solutions that have benefited traders, algorithmic developers and brokers enormously.

Kazuo Anzai

Director, Western Inc

Kaz is Director at WESTERN Inc, after being the Representative Director, CEO at Alpari Japan. Before then, Kaz was Representative Director, COO at IXIS (current NATIXIS) Asset Management Japan pursuing pension fund business. He worked for Toronto Dominion Securities as Director of Credit Derivatives in charge of sales and product development. At Barclays Investment Trust, he was General Manager of investment trust sales, ETF project manager, and Interim President. At Prudential Investment Management, he was in charge of investment trust sales as Vice President. Kaz brings over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry to WESTERN Inc, where supporting their international partners to earn Japan success. Kaz holds degrees in Business and Commerce from Keio University.

Michael Satterfield

Head of FX eCommerce, BT Trading

As Head of Electronic Trading for BT Trading, Michael Satterfield bridges the gap between retail and institutional FX markets. He oversees development of BT Trading’s proprietary pricing engine, which leverages market intelligence to dynamically create efficiencies in electronic pricing to the full spectrum of FX clients. Michael launched the New York eFX desk at Natixis (EPA:KN) by developing and implementing a centralized pricing and risk management infrastructure, which was later deployed globally to provide a unified FX liquidity offering. With a truly holistic view of the bank’s risk across its global FX operation, the bank was able to deliver more aggressive pricing to its customers and volumes soared as a result. Michael began his career in FX at Bear Stearns, where he launched an automated cross-border equity hedging platform that streamlined the process of settling equities transactions in foreign currencies with minimal risk. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree In Computer Engineering from the University of South Florida.

Mohsin Jameel

CEO, Tradenext to Regional Market Updates

Mr. Mohsin Jameel is the CEO and Director of Tradenext Limited and the driving force behind the company. In addition he is a Director of a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), which is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India and a Director of Futures and Capital, a full clearing member of the Multi Commodity Exchange, India. Mohsin is responsible for setting up this business and working towards making Tradenext one of the dominant players in FX and CFD industry. As the CEO of Tradenext, Mohsin is responsible for establishing Tradenext network and shaping strategies all over the world. Mohsin has broad experience in regulated financial services firms having spent the previous 12 years before establishing Tradenext in a variety of senior roles within life insurance, banking, real estate and financial markets. His expertise and in-depth analysis of the business is core to all group business operations and development plans. Mohsin holds a management degree in finance and marketing.

Irfan Pardesi

CEO & Founder, ACM Gold

As an entrepreneur, Irfan is a founder of ACM Gold and has developed his brainchild into a company of high standing. As Chief Executive Officer, Irfan caters to a wide array of responsibilities, which includes creating country wide strategies of its company’s operations to identify untapped market segments as a retail forex broker. He is also the main brains behind devising pricing mechanisms to convert international metal prices into local currency for Pakistan Mercantile Exchange; one of the fastest growing Commodity Exchanges in South Asia. Irfan has formed a number of companies in other industries as well. He created Bailey and Co, a recruitment consultancy, and The Valuators, a property assessing company providing help to Banks and Mortgage brokers. He has also worked in Numera Services as an associate for Aircraft Financing. Having done his Bachelors in Management Sciences from London School of Economics and Political Science, Irfan has appeared on TV several times on programs reflecting true entrepreneurial and leadership spirit. He is very active in Social Services and has formed Zakaria Foundation and works generously for Barkati Foundation and Kutiyana Memon Association.

Alex Knight

Global Head of FX Margin Trading, Citi

Alex Knight is the head of Citi's FX Margin Trading Business which focuses on the provision of FX liquidity to mid-market clients. Alex has worked at Citi since 2001, initially in the FX E-Commerce business and then, from 2007, across both FX Prime Brokerage and FX Margin Trading. Alex is currently based in Sydney, having spent 2007-2010 starting both of these business in Asia whilst working in the Singapore offices of Citi.

Tim Haman

CEO and Co- founder, Fair Trading Technology

Mr. Haman's background in the IT industry began in 1995, and he is an expert in program execution, promotion, product launch and start-up ventures. During the past 12 years, he has completed more than 30 successful new business projects and implemented several profitable trading techniques. Early in his career, Mr. Haman began a venture in broadband services in Sweden (Borderlight AB), taking the company from pure start-up to millions in turnover. Today is also a co-founder and Innovation board member of Yobetit, a sports arbitrage trading platform launching later in 2012.

Courtney Gibson

Vice-President of Trading, OANDA

Courtney has worked at OANDA since 2003, leading a number of engineering and operations teams. In his present role he is responsible for the strategic growth of the firm's electronic trading business and coordination of the global trading group. He has more than 20 years of experience in software development, architecture, and performance analysis on real-time and financial systems. For the past 12 years, Courtney has lectured and coordinated courses for undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Toronto, where he holds an adjunct appointment with the university's computer engineering faculty. Courtney works closely with OANDA's Research, Analytics and Engineering teams to architect, evaluate, and optimize real-time trading system performance. He is responsible for analyzing market risk, growing OANDA's product offerings, and maximizing trading revenue for OANDA and its customers.

Summit speakers