BDSwiss is a leading financial services group which, since its inception in 2012, has been offering bespoke CFD trading and investment products to more than 1.5 million registered clients, in over 180 different countries. Global Banking & Finance Review editor, Wanda Rich sat down for an interview with Drosoula Hadjisavva, Chief Marketing Officer at BDSwiss for the past 2 years, with extensive experience in branding and marketing, and a successful career of more than a decade in similar roles in the FX and fintech industry, to discuss how today’s investor needs have evolved and why personalisation in products, services and communications is key to client loyalty.

There are many brokers in the market. How does BDSwiss differentiate itself from its competition?

Drosoula Hadjisavva, Chief Marketing Officer, BDSwiss

BDSwiss is a multi-regulated global broker that has built a solid reputation as a transparent and forward-thinking brand that aims to exceed client expectations by investing in product differentiation and delivering a strong value proposition. We recognise that in today’s fast growing fintech industry, competition is stiff and that the stakes are always high when it comes to maintaining a loyal client base.

Our ongoing efforts are concentrated on becoming a one-stop shop providing easy access to a number of financial and investment services. We focus on analysing our audiences’ needs and enhancing client experience by investing in continuous research, improving our existing services and products, introducing innovative trading and investing solutions, and providing ongoing financial education and support.

We follow both a client and partner-centric approach, accommodating them throughout their client journey and ensuring a world-class experience. In short, clients and partners that choose BDSwiss can expect a transparent service under a regulated environment, as well as reliability in execution, competitive pricing, and award-winning trading conditions on over 1,000 underlying assets covering all major markets and beyond.

How have your trading platforms been critical to your success?

Undeniably, the trading platform is one of the most crucial components of a trader’s experience. As a global leader in CFD trading, BDSwiss is always looking to provide the most advanced, convenient, and feature-rich trading platforms on the market. Our platform offering includes the MetaTrader4 which is used by millions of traders around the world, while a few years back, we also introduced the MetaTrader5, which aims to address more sophisticated trader needs.

In the last few years, our Product team has also been working hard to develop the BDSwiss WebTrader and the BDSwiss Trading app, two proprietary forex trading platforms, specifically designed to accommodate our clients’ needs by combining a user-friendly interface with a wide range of analytical tools. Both BDSwiss WebTrader and Trading App are fully integrated with our clients’ MT4 accounts and dashboards, for a seamless experience across all platforms and devices.

Providing a wide range of trading platforms, which have proven time and time again to be extremely reliable during adverse market conditions and sudden spikes
in trading volumes, has played a significant role to our success, indeed. We are not complacent though, we know there’s always room for improvement, which is why we continue to add value for our clients with additional features and partnerships, while also galvanising
our teams to develop bespoke charting and analysis tools that enable traders to identify major trading opportunities and make better informed decisions.

The BDSwiss Trading app was developed completely in-house. What advantages does this bring?

Developing our Trading app exclusively in-house enabled us to create a fully customised, all-in-one platform that can accommodate our clients’ needs. We also maintain the ability to further develop the app over time, adding new features and improving UX for both iOS and Android systems. Maintaining a natively developed app also gives us room to conduct our own research and use the feedback we receive from clients to make further improvements to our app. It’s important to note that while having complete control over our mobile platform gives us a true edge when it comes to trading innovation, it also requires an ongoing commitment to constant innovation on our part.

In a nutshell, BDSwiss’ Trading App offers a complete trading environment to mobile users as well as a smooth onboarding and access to client dashboard where they can monitor their account, deposit, trade, and withdraw on the go.

How important is it to deliver personalised service in the financial sector?

Delivering personalised service is particularly important in the fintech sector, as in a highly commoditized world of FX & CFDs investment products, it’s the client experience, driven by personalisation, that sets financial institutions apart. Study after study highlights personalisation is what consumers have come to increasingly expect from the brands they engage with, but unfortunately, many forex brokers are still stuck in the mindset of delivering generic one-size-fits-all communications on their new products or services. In an era of hyper-personalization this is definitely a losing approach when it comes to attracting younger generations of traders.

As retail traders’ individual needs and requirements diversify, and target audiences become more niche, financial institutions need to adapt accordingly. In order to win the race for “digital differentiation” fintech brands must now deliver personalisation at scale, designing services based on individuals’ unique needs and perspectives to provide a meaningful experience!

At BDSwiss, we have truly invested in analysing our database and segmenting our clients based on their trading activity, behaviour, but also investment needs which could differ based on different demographics such as geo location, financial status, age, etcetera. From marketing communication to customer support, we ensured that our messaging was consistent, yet targeted, timely, and relevant. This enabled us to ensure that we don’t bombard our clients with tone-deaf messaging, but that we anticipate and address their concerns, we accommodate them with the appropriate education and support at the right time, and we provide actionable research and information that pertains to their individual needs and investment profiles.

How have you had to adapt how you interact with clients due to the current pandemic?

In times of crisis, a client’s experience of a company can dramatically impact their sense of trust and future loyalty towards it. Rightly, when it comes to online forex and CFD trading services, clients expect the same platform responsiveness, quality conditions, pricing, execution speed, and support. Addressing clients’ concerns, BDSwiss was able to reassure them by continuing to provide an exceptional level of service, as well as fully operational platforms and customer support during the pandemic.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, popular interest in the financial markets grew during the pandemic, with flocks of new clients opening trading accounts and looking for tools to keep up with all the latest developments in different markets. Remaining loyal to our client-centric approach, we delivered clear and helpful cross-channel client communications via emails, social posts, company newsletters, and in-platform updates and multiplied its online educational webinars. We also leveraged our Research Team led by seasoned fundamelist Marshall Gittler to offer actionable insights on the markets through a series of live analysis webinars, daily market commentaries and trading alerts.

In your observation, did the behaviours of traders change as a result of the pandemic?

One of the most striking phenomena of 2020 and early 2021 when it comes to the financial industry has been the rise of retail investors. The constant flow of world-changing events resulted in myriads of investing opportunities, completely transforming the retail trading landscape. As such, retail investors felt encouraged to take control of their finances and get back a sense of ownership for their investment decisions. The “post-pandemic trader” is more financially savvy and investment-oriented than their predecessor – and I believe this trend is here to stay.

What innovations should your customers expect in the near future: promotions, services or products? Or what is your business strategy this year?

As part of our ongoing commitment to our client-centric approach and in an effort to accommodate our Group’s aptitude for growth, we wish to focus more on localisation this year. Localisation and personalisation are the new drivers of business value and we plan to utilise both to create compelling, meaningful, and differentiated client experiences. We are looking to expand through a “think global, act local” approach and streamline our internal processes in a way that allows us to continuously adapt our products and services to serve the needs of different markets, with a sensitivity to cultural, regional and national preferences.

Reflecting on our past, present and future, our vision remains the same: to become a one-stop shop and offer access to the markets with ease. We will therefore continue investing in research and development, introducing innovative solutions, wallets, and services to cover the needs of our increasingly diverse clientele.