A Linear Rise To The Top
CFI Financial Group is one of the fastest-growing brokers in the Middle East. Here, company founder and managing director, Hisham Mansour, along with group COO, Dr. Demetrios Zamboglou, share their insights into what the future holds in store for the firm.
What is one factor that contributes to the success of CFI?
Hisham Mansour: When people ask me about CFI’s success over the years and what made it happen, my answer is always simple: You’re only as good as your team. We spend an enormous amount of time recruiting, training, and providing our people with the rights tools for them to become leaders in their fields. No matter who you are, or where you are from, CFI operates a non-discriminatory policy, while always being proud to promote talent within the organization. Passion is at the heart of our operations and is synonymous with our vision. When you have the right team, coupled with the right vision, accelerated growth will occur.
Can you describe the successful sale of MIG Bank and your partnership with what was then CFI?
HM: MIG Bank Switzerland was my venture and was established in 2003 to provide online trading services. I was 22 at the time and business quickly boomed. By the time MIG was sold to merge with another Swiss Bank, it was seeing daily volumes of over $60 billion. At that point, MIG was offering a wide range of products to clients in over 120 countries, with subsidiaries in the U.K. and Hong Kong. Despite the exit, my passion for the industry meant that I was still on the hunt for new ventures, which would allow me to build something even bigger.
A close friend of mine from Lebanon called Eduardo Fakhoury, who also comes from a banking family, ran a very successful and highly reputable operation under the CFI name. He was looking to expand globally and proposed a partnership. Aside from our friendship, our like mindedness made my decision easier, and we set plans to create a globally-renowned firm that would later be known as the CFI Financial Group, with several regulated entities around the world.
What is CFI today and why do people choose it?
HM: CFI operates with a main vision in mind, and that is to become the go-to brand for all things investing and trading. The company is heavily customer-centric, never treating individuals as numbers. Our approach has created a positive reputation for the company and one that is closely guarded. This led to many of our clients referring their friends and acquaintances to CFI for their trading requirements.
Nowadays, CFI is considered one of the biggest trading providers in the Middle East, and is rising fast on the global scene. It is an award-winning firm that caters to everyone. It offers access to over 7,000 products across 18 global markets and three trading platforms, with zero commissions, ultra-competitive spreads, and a wealth of educational content. Furthermore, the company offers daily reports, free webinars, dedicated account managers, and a long list of features that keep CFI at the forefront of the industry.
How do you plan to encourage further adoption of online trading in the Middle East and further afield?
Dr. Demetrios Zamboglou: We are committed to creating a bestin-class trading journey. Through marketing science, and data analytics, we can connect the dots with our potential traders, and through technology, we can cater to their trading needs. All the touchpoints of our journey matter. From the moment a trader discovers us to the moment they start trading, they need to feel supported at all times. Through automation, decision-making engines, and extensive education, we can facilitate a best-in-class trading experience.
All our efforts are turning CFI’s vision into reality. As part of this, we understand the need to constantly innovate, which is where research comes in. We take research and development very seriously, and now, we can see its success with more than 7,000 instruments, awards in product development, and a bright future for our proprietary technology and platforms.
How much of your growth due to the efforts you put into developing your own technology?
There is no secret to our success. CFI has the right talent in every department. If we are taking about technology, then I would say that it is the clay that unifies all the departments. We are indeed a Fintech company, we have our own infrastructure, products, and platforms as well as our own patents and intellectual properties.
All the projects are running in a timely fashion, with proper costbenefit analysis, management, and controls. CFI is one of those companies that has zerotolerance when it comes to safety and security. We always aim to innovate and that is exactly why we launched our Customer Experience and Education initiatives this year.
How did the pandemic affect the overall operations of CFI?
DZ: CFI puts great emphasis on having a strong infrastructure. There are standard operations procedures for all departments; whether you work from home or the office, you know your workflow, who your manager is, how you report, and what your KPIs are. We’re always ready for any situation, no matter how severe it is, including navigating the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
A closer examination of the pandemic allowed us to focus on the priorities and the sustainability of the company. This meant reviewing and eliminating some of our partners so that we only work with the best business providers. Finally, all of our team members were briefed, prepared, and trained for such situations.
“CFI operates with a main vision in mind, and that is to become the go-to brand for all things investing and trading.”