Sally Jones, Executive Director of the Broker Club on why if you’re in Capital Markets you should be a member…

I met up with Jon Carp and Sally Jones toward the beginning of the year to hear about the newly founded Broker Club.

As more capital markets brokers sign up, we hear are little more from Sally Jones, The Broker Club Executive Director on what it is, who it’s for, and what it can do for your brokerage…

So first and for most, what is The Broker Club, who is it for and what’s the overall objective?

The Broker Club was created to establish a community specifically for Brokers operating within Capital Markets.  The purpose is to build a network and community as well as solve challenges by sharing specific and topical information on subjects interesting to those in Front Office, Operations, Risk, Regulation, Infrastructure, Technology and Innovation.

It seemed to us that financial institutions and companies have a wealth of information, publications Associations and events specifically for them. With one group as an exception…. Brokers.

This is a community that is underserved by the professionals working in and around the financial markets:

• No one helps Brokers get new clients [ed: cough-cough Sally, Good Broker Guide/Prime-brokers.net]
• No one tells brokers how they can cut costs and be more efficient
• If Brokers want to attend conferences they have to pay…often they are free to the Buy-Side.
• No one gives Brokers information about what latest technology is available. For example, what products exist solve regulatory requirements.
• No one tells Brokers what alternatives are available to traditional vendors – often at a cost far cheaper than the traditional suppliers and less than employing more staff.
• No one gives Brokers a specific reference library covering Trading, Regulation/Risk/Compliance, Operational and Technology with articles, white papers and other – accessible by subject and keyword search.
• No one gives Brokers a community and forum where they can ask each other questions, even anonymously to validate what they are thinking.
• No one arranges events, meetings, and social gatherings specifically for Brokers. Meetings and Events will be centred around requested subjects and hosted by The Broker Club.

We decided to put this right -Exclusive Membership to The Broker club gives you all of this and more.

Do you have an example of how The Broker Club could help brokers increase clients and reduce costs?

Several:

A recent networking drinks event in the City was held by The Broker Club, where several of our smaller firms were introduced to the Institutional Sales Team from some of our larger clients, to enable business relationships.

We have also hold weekly roundtables to share information, ideas for cost savings and best practice on topics such as Cyber Security, Market Data, Tax efficient strategies for small businesses, How to build the right Risk Culture, etc. etc.

The roundtables are always very popular, our clients get a lot of value from both the subject matter experts as well as peer group sharing of information.

Who’s The Broker Club open to? Is it just front office and senior staff or will you be catering for all departments within capital market brokers?

We have no restrictions on who can join The Broker Club – as long as they work a brokerage firm.

Typically, our active members include the following: Head of Risk, Head of Compliance, Head of Trading, Head of Operations, Head of Market Data, Head of IT, Head of Surveillance, Head of Prime, COO, CFO, CEO.

We also have a good attendance from those who work in these areas.

What would you say makes The Broker Club stand out from other institutional service directories like Eurohedge for example?

Firstly, the Broker Club is exclusively for Brokers.   We see a real value in bringing people from similar organisations with the same issues together to share ideas and best practice.

We actively ask our members for ideas on challenges they wish to discuss. It has rapidly become apparent that there is a demand for Brokers to hear from experts and share their experiences with their peers.

The Broker Club has created a community for discussion and problem solving that it seems did not exist previously.

Other than the online resources, what sort of networking events will The Broker Club be hosting and how often?

We hold weekly roundtables bringing together members to discuss various topical issues.  The subject matter is often requested by members or is organised in reaction to topical issues.

For example, a recent meeting on Market Surveillance, following a recent fine announcement by the FCA on a Broker generated much demand and subsequent events on this topic have been organised.

We also hold a monthly Risk roundtable, bringing together Heads of Risk along with a subject matter expert to discuss challenges and share experience.

It is the face to face nature of these round tables that our members value.

As someone who’s worked in capital markets, what are your top three online resources you simply couldn’t operate without?

I am not sure there is a top three.

To get a full picture requires going to numerous resources that may include, The Broker Club itself, Fncrowd.com, Linkedin, FCA Website, Financial Times,  but these are just a few that we use.

And finally, who’s behind The Broker Club and what did the team do before?

• Carl Rogers:
  Carl has spent over 25 years in sales and marketing positions, providing data, research and software to financial institutions, having built an extensive network working for blue chip companies like Thomson Reuters, SS&C and S&P Global Market Intelligence. Prior to joining Finceler8 Carl ran his own business development consultancy Alchemy Business Growth, helping FinTech companies to grow and international companies enter the UK market, focusing on lead generation, building the sales pipeline and direct sales.  Having been brought up in a family business, he is well aware of the challenges smaller companies face and is a mentor at L39 (Europe’s largest technology

 

• Jon Carp:
  Jon has 34 years of experience of working in Financial Markets. Starting his career in 1982 working for Cazenove and Co. He moved to NMW Computers prior to Big Bang in 1986 in a Sales and Account Management where Jon subsequently spent 12 years working for information vendors Pont Data (3 years) and Reuters PLC (9 years) where he held sales positions including Equity Sales Specialist, Sales Manager and Sales Director. On leaving Jon had 25 Sales and Account Managers reporting to him. During this time Jon sold directly to or managed teams that sold directly to Global and local Investment Banks and Brokers. In 2000 Jon joined Credit Agricole to work for Equity Broker CA Cheuvreux where he established and ran the Electronic Trading team for Europe.  In 2002, he moved to New York to establish the business in the US before returning to the UK in 2005 to run the Electronic Trading business globally, responsible for Sales, revenues and P/L until 2013. During this period, the team designed and brought to market new products for the bank including Direct Market Access, CFDs, Clearing, and Algorithmic trading. Under Jon’s leadership the Electronic Trading business revenues grew to in excess of €70 million.
  Jon left Credit Agricole Cheuvreux in 2013 to join Societe Generale Newedge in the Prime Broking area to establish an Equity product before deciding in 2015 to follow his interest and focus on opportunities within Financial Technology.

 

• Malcolm Ford:
  Malcolm has 28 years of experience of working in Financial Markets. Starting his sales career in 1989 working for a start-up brokerage business in Equity Derivatives. He moved to Daiwa Europe Limited in 1992 and then subsequently to the specialist warrant and CB market-maker, Cresvale Limited. In this time Malcolm was selling product to a range of institutional clients including hedge funds, private banks and asset managers.
  Malcolm subsequently spent 4 years working in the Information Technology world for Bridge Information Systems, starting as a Technical Analysis specialist, progressing to a Strategic Account Manager. Malcolm was selling to Global and local Investment Banks and Brokers.
  In 2000 Malcolm joined Credit Agricole to work for the Equity Broker, CA Cheuvreux where he became an integral part of the Electronic Trading team for Europe. During this period, the team designed and brought to market new products for the bank including Direct Market Access, CFDs, Clearing, and Algorithmic trading.
  Malcolm left Credit Agricole Cheuvreux in 2010 to join Morgan Stanley in order to establish a Sell-side client base for their Electronic Trading platform. In 2012, he joined the US-broker/dealer, Knight Capital Europe (now KCG Europe) and Instinet Europe Limited in 2014, before deciding in 2017 to follow his interest and focus on opportunities within Financial Technology.

 

• (Me)Sally Jones:
  Sally has over 30 years of experience of working in Financial Markets, starting in 1987 working for CitGroup, then in 1989 joined Reuters Limited where she was a key part of a team that launched the first electronic broking service for the interbank FX market, taking the service from early beta to a highly profitable and successful business.
  Sally subsequently spent 12 years working in Sales Management roles initially as a Specialist Sales at Reuters then as the UKI Sales Manager for EcoWin Limited.
  In 2006 Sally moved back to Reuters Limited initially as a sales manager then in 2011 Sally moved in to a Global Business Director Role, setting strategy for two of Thomson Reuters largest accounts across all business lines – Thomson Reuters Financial and Risk, Thomson Reuters Legal Services and Thomson Reuters Tax and Accounting.
  Sally left Thomson Reuters in January 2017 to join The Broker Club

Sally Jones, is executive director of TheBrokerClub. For more information see their website here.