How FX businesses boost loyalty and profitability with data

Ali Curi: Markets Conversation is a new ION podcast where we discuss topics of importance to capital markets participants with product owners, subject matter experts, and industry leaders.

Melissa Stevenson: Data allows us to be more proactive. They have a very good quality data and they can analyze that data and get some, really actionable insights about the customer’s behavior and the types of business they’re doing, they can actually go out to the customers on a proactive basis and we’ll learn a lot more about them and also be, have opportunity, to offer more services to them as well.

Ali Curi: Hi everyone. And welcome to Markets Conversation. I’m Ali Curi. On today’s episode, Melissa Stevenson from ION Markets will discuss the transformative impact of digitizing data in the foreign exchange industry.

While the move to self service models enhances efficiency and convenience, it introduces a ‘knowledge gap’ as firms lose insights gained from customer interactions. Melissa will help us understand how embracing a data driven, decision making culture is crucial for staying competitive. She will also explain how adopting data analytics that align with your marketing strategies and focus on core objectives can help drive success in the FX market.

Let’s get started.

Melissa Stevenson, welcome to the podcast.

Melissa Stevenson: Hi Ali, thanks for having me.

Ali Curi: Thank you for being here. Now let’s talk about data, in particular, FX data and customer service. Can you share with us the current landscape of digital transformation for FX firms? And what are some challenges that FX firms right now might be facing with digital transformation?

Melissa Stevenson: So we’re seeing, data and data-driven insights to be a really big topic within the, for FX businesses in terms of not just looking at data from pre-trade execution side, which is primarily where a lot of the investment has been focused on, but we’re also seeing it now, permeate through the post trade side as well.
So data is really starting to be a big part of the entire end-to-end workflow for an NFX. I think some of the challenges that we see is in terms of data is really, know the data quality and ensuring that, and the fragmentation that firms may have in making sure that they have all the correct data.

So data quality being how good is this data? How’s the source of the data? How effective is it? And then again, how quickly can we get this data consolidated as well. Especially if they may have like disparate applications where all this data is being captured from. So I think that’s definitely a challenge, that we see firms having, but again, it’s also another challenge is also being able to use that data effectively.

So there could be, millions of points of data, and there’s a lot of information that you can get from that data. But again, as long as you have the right tools as well as the right people and how to interpret that data is one of the challenges that we see that clients have as well.

Ali Curi: I have recently read some articles that mention that in the process of moving FX services online, there’s been a reduction in direct customer contact creating a “knowledge gap.”
Can you tell us more about this? Share with us how firms might counter this reduced interaction. How can they bridge this knowledge gap?

Melissa Stevenson: So I think in terms of when we talk about, ” knowledge gap,” I think we’ve seen in the past, there was more of a reactive approach to dealing with clients. So if, a client would have to call in to say, execute a trade, and then that’s where they would be able to maybe engage with their clients in terms of providing them more information, understanding a little bit more of the nature of why they need to do some of this, the business that they’re doing. I think with more reactive in the past, what we’re seeing now with data, allows banks to do is to be more proactive.

Again, if they have the very good quality data and they can analyze that data and get some, really actionable insights about the customer’s behavior and the types of business they’re doing. They can actually go out to the customers on a proactive basis and learn a lot more about them and also have the opportunity to offer more services to them as well.

Ali Curi: Share with us some examples of how FX firms can leverage this digital data in a more focused and deliberate manner to make strategic decisions, especially when it comes to customer loyalty and obviously, profitability.

Melissa Stevenson: So I think, from my, what I just mentioned before, some of the data that the banks can collect, they can really understand the, a customer’s behavior or again, from data that they collect, holistically from, as a firm, there might be some new services and automation that they can offer to their existing clients.
It’s not just about the traditional services that, they would normally interact with the customers, but this actually allows them to offer new services. And then their clients will actually feel a lot more value, they’re being receiving with their relationship with their, with the bank.

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Ali Curi: So we often hear of the “big data treatment,” if you will, where firms are using all of this data that they’ve collected in order to better understand their clients. But this big data treatment can also be used for marketing strategies, right?

Tell us how FX firms can effectively integrate some data analytics into these marketing strategies to make sure that they align with their mission critical objectives, and specific business goals.

Melissa Stevenson: So I think, with the, with data itself, banks and firms, they can create a real focus and targeted marketing approach. So while they’re not just looking at a one particular client, if they have data that it’s being collected holistically within bank, they can see some additional opportunities to offer new services to new customers, not just within say, their particular area, but also where they could also look to find areas where they can cross market with other teams within the organization.

Ali Curi: Melissa, we’ve discussed a few key points regarding data and analytics around FX, what is the one big thing that you hope listeners will take away from this episode?

Melissa Stevenson: So I think the one big thing is use the data effectively, ensure that you have good quality data and that you have the right resources internally that can really, effectively analyze that data to be able to garner more insight about your business and also be able to provide more value added services to your customers.

Ali Curi: Now, let’s switch gears for a minute and talk about career advice and productivity. What is some career advice you wish you had heard earlier in your career?

Melissa Stevenson: Some career advice I wish I had garnered was to, to really have a force evaluation in terms of, know the job that you’re doing, you need to take time to make sure that you’re getting value and you’re still passionate about what you’re doing.

And then, if it’s something that you don’t feel, have that same feeling, then it’s time to pivot and look for, other areas.

Ali Curi: Great. Thank you for sharing that. Let’s learn a little bit more about you. Share with us some of your background prior to ION and what you’re doing now at ION.

Melissa Stevenson: I’ve been at ION for about 25 years, but before joining ION, I started off as a public accounting at KPMG.

I was there for about three years and decided to change from public accounting over into FX, the foreign exchange business. And I was over at Deutsche Bank for about five years, starting off as a business analyst, and then was on the trading desk as a junior trader. And now at ION, I am in the product management team.

My area of expertise is in the foreign exchange and inter trade derivatives, primarily focusing on the post trade aspect of the FX business.

Ali Curi: Melissa Stevenson, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s been a pleasure having you on the podcast. I hope you visit us again.

Melissa Stevenson: Thank you so much, Ali.

Ali Curi: And that’s our episode for today. You can follow ION Markets on Twitter and LinkedIn. Thank you for joining us. I’m Ali Curi. Until next time.