tradersdna is proud to present an exclusive interview with James Sinclair, one of the foremost thought leaders in the Forex and Fintech space. James is the CEO and co-founder of MarketFactory, a financial forex exchange technology company that provides feed handlers to the forex market.
MarketFactory’s tech cloud based FX aggregator services enables brokers and banks to quickly connect to their network of liquidity providers via a proprietary online trading application or via its API, that connects to all sources of liquidity in the foreign exchange market, including ECNs, banks, brokers and futures exchanges. Their platform gives companies access to over 50 FX venues.
Having worked in the foreign exchange market for over 25 years, Sinclair has an enviable level of experience and expertise in the field. He spent several years as head of research and strategy at the biggest Forex broker EBS, both before and after its 2006 acquisition by ICAP. He also spent 12 years as a vice president of Asia/Pacific at Citibank. Prior to that, he studied programming at Imperial College London, so his new focus on developing technology is very much a return to his roots.
These are the questions Traders DNA asked in this 28 minute video interview:
- Can you tell us about yourself, your background, and your education?
- What can you tell us about MarketFactory and you differentiate yourself from the competition?
- You offer a technological solution that removes the complexities and costs of connecting the foreign exchange market. How do you see your product in the overall context of the FX technology providers?
- With the daily trading volume of the Forex market reaching $5.2 trillion in 2014, what do you see as being the most important considerations for the industry going forward?
- New platforms such as FXall and Currenex have entered the market recently, some years after Reuters Matching and EBS launched. What are your thought on the FX technology platforms ecosystem at the time present?
- What is your perspective on the emergence of new digital currencies such as Bitcoin in the context of FX Trading?
- Algorithm trading represents around 75% of trading activity at the moment. How do you see the future for algorithm trading, in terms of technology and regulation?
- What is your take on social and mobile trading technologies?
- In general, what are the biggest regulatory challenges in Forex and algorithm trading, particularly in terms of the regional differences?
- In your opinion, what will be the biggest implications of the Dodd-Frank Act in US for the industry?
- What directions will the Forex industry take in the future in your opinion?
- Corporate trading and real trade best execution transactional costs changes? Fixing product, where is it going?
- In your opinion how will the new generation – one that has grown up with open data, no privacy, social media, and online gaming – react to the FX market?
MarketFactory distinguish themselves from the competition in that they are very much FX-focused, with all of the core team coming from a Forex background, and by dint of their neutrality, in that they are not directly affiliated with any particular market player.
He sees the biggest change in the forex market over the past couple of decades has not been the increasing concentration of market makers, which has been accompanied by an explosion in the varieties of ways in which people can access an ever-decreasing choice of liquidity providers. He sees the biggest innovations as having come in the form of new ways to access the market, and new ways to hedge.
On the subject of Bitcoin, he sees one of the main problems with it being the glamour that surrounds it, as it might for any new and disruptive technology, in that it distorts the perception of it and therefore has a malign influence on its evolution. He sees it as an ‘interesting security’ rather than as a replacement for currency, and that it might evolve in a more natural and productive way if it were viewed purely as such. He echoes the view of many within the financial space that its volatility is something that has prevented it from being taken seriously, and that a crypto-currency that has yet to be developed may prove to be the one that ultimately succeeds where Bitcoin fails.
In our exclusive interview with James, which can be viewed above, he expounds his views on these topics and a number of others related to the financial services industry and particularly the forex space, both in terms of where it has been, where it is right now, and how he sees it unfolding in future.
This video was produced in partnership with Groupe INSEEC London.
Interview by Dinis Guarda written with the support of Paul Milne.
Dinis Guarda is an author, academic, influencer, serial entrepreneur and leader in 4IR, AI, Fintech, digital transformation and Blockchain. With over two decades of experience in international business, C level positions and digital transformation, Dinis has worked with new tech, cryptocurrencies, drive ICOs, regulation, compliance, legal international processes, and has created a bank, and been involved in the inception of some of the top 100 digital currencies.
Dinis has created various companies such as Ztudium tech platform a digital and blockchain startup that created the software Blockimpact (sold to Glance Technologies Inc) and founder and publisher of intelligenthq.com, hedgethink.com, fashionabc.org and tradersdna.com. Dinis is also the co-founder of techabc and citiesabc, a digital transformation platform to empower, guide and index cities through 4IR based technologies like blockchain, AI, IoT, etc.
He has been working with the likes of UN / UNITAR, UNESCO, European Space Agency, Davos WEF, Philips, Saxo Bank, Mastercard, Barclays and governments all over the world.
He has been a guest lecturer at Copenhagen Business School, Group INSEEC/Monaco University, where he coordinates executive Masters and MBAs.
As an author, Dinis Guarda published the book 4IR: AI, Blockchain, FinTech, IoT, Reinventing a Nation in 2019. His upcoming book, titled 4IR Magna Carta Cities ABC: A tech AI blockchain 4IR Smart Cities Data Research Charter of Liberties for our humanity is due to be published in 2020.
He is ranked as one of the most influential people in Blockchain in the world by Right Relevance as well as being listed in Cointelegraph’s Top People In Blockchain and Rise Global’s The Artificial Intelligence Power 100. He was also listed as one of the 100 B2B Thought Leaders and Influencers to Follow in 2020 by Thinkers360.
