Could you please tell us about your FOREX business experience, the company and its strategic goals?
Alfa-Forex was established in 2003 as a FOREX trading floor for legal entities, small banks and brokers. A strategic decision to enter into the retail FOREX market was made in 2011 and the company set out for attraction of individual customers. I was invited to the post of the Development and Sales Director and targeted an Alfa-Forex position amongst the top three FOREX companies of Russia and the CIS from the very first days of my work. Obviously, this is a highly ambitious goal, especially amid competition with other market actors, but our top-notch service and cohesive professional team make me think that we are maximally close to the attainment of our goal of securing our position in the leading troika.

Before taking the post of the Alfa-Forex director, I had been working for leading retail FOREX companies for about nine years and I could tell you that reliability of the company, fair and transparent terms and skilled support – and our FOREX banking company provided each of those conditions – were main criteria in a customer’s selection of a partner.

What enabled Alfa Forex to become an industry leader within such a short period?
I think the main source of our success was the creation and maintenance of an impeccable reputation at every stage of cooperation with customers and the most attractive terms for market traders. Alfa Forex proudly presents one of the lowest spreads on the FOREX market not only in Russia but also in Eastern Europe. Many traders are eyeing large companies with an established market reputation and everyone wants to work with a reliable partner; in our case the company’s incorporation into a bank is an additional advantage, which has helped us become a leader in the retail segment.

Do you think that training of novices and professional development of experienced traders is important in relations with customers? Does your company do that?
We are not training novices at present. The reason is that most of our audience is professional and successful traders.

Yet we realize the importance of work with novices: the market has its bottom and the percentage of market professionals is not very large. Besides, professionalism and experience of our team make it possible to share FOREX fundamentals and explain to novices rapidly and in simple words what trading is and how it can be a living or even one’s life.

We are elaborating a project of interaction with and training of novices and considering special terms for this group. So, it is quite possible that we will experiment with training projects, which will transform people keen on making money on FOREX into active and successful traders.

What kinds of accounts and trading platforms does your company offer?
As we have said before, the Alfa Forex audience mostly comprises professional traders and we seek to divide our clients by platforms rather than types of accounts, i.e. we have a limited number of trading account types. We have tried to create an account with universal terms convenient to every trader.

A customer chooses only a trading platform, MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5, while trading terms are generally uniform: spread from 0.7 pip for EUR/USD, 1:100 leverage, and difference only in the minimum lot size. The majority of our customers are satisfied with the terms, hence we see no reason for changing them but instead concentrate on new services, which broaden the capacities of our clients.

What innovations should your customers expect in the near future: promotions, services or products?
Speaking of trading accounts I should mention the latest launch of ZuluTrade accounts on the MetaTrader4 platform, a service for automatic copying of transactions of successful traders. This service is in rather large demand by customers of various levels, from novices to veteran investors. ZuluTrade accounts have proven their value, especially from the investment point of view, and we intend to develop investment products based on PAMM accounts. PAMM accounts are designed for successful traders, managers and profit-seeking investors. An investor chooses one or several managers with a steady trading history and invests in their trading for the purpose of profit. Managers use funds of investors for making profit for themselves and their investors. PAMM accounts are one of the most popular market products, and we plan a significant increase in the numbers of our customers with qualified managers and large investors as PAMM accounts offered on our trading terms are a rather attractive product for the Russian market.

We listen to the opinions of our customers about new promotions and services and have started recently the Turbo Volume campaign for new and existent customers. By campaign terms every active customer is entitled to a bonus depending on one’s trading activity, trading volume and turnover as of the campaign end.

Another important innovation is CFD trading based on the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time without actual deliveries, which is a purely speculative service. This product is designed for the best qualified traders interested in alternative instruments for making profit or hedging their assets. We offer new instruments to our customers, such as FOREX CFD, agricultural product CFD and energy CFD.

What our readers may expect from Alfa Forex in 2013?
As to our plans, we are running internal tests on PAMM accounts and we will be ready to launch a new investment product shortly. PAMM accounts are one of the products in biggest demand on the FOREX market and we are confident that our investment service will be one of the largest and most competitive in Russia. Numerous interesting products and promotions will be launched in the future, and I think we will give lots of pleasant surprises to our traders. We will also broaden our presence in other countries or even on other continents. It is quite possible that our achievements will bring us a new award at some point!