Gerard, you have nearly two decades of experience in the financial services industry. How did you arrive at StoneX?
2025 is my 20th anniversary in financial services. It feels like a long journey with plenty of highs and lows, challenges and achievements and some very valuable life lessons along the way. Despite the years of experience, I know there’s still so much more to learn and achieve and that keeps me motivated. My path into finance wasn’t exactly conventional. I started out in marketing, and my first “grown-up” job was as a webmaster in the electronics industry. Back then, coding was still very much hands-on as content management systems weren’t yet mainstream. Let’s just say I crashed the corporate website more times than I care to admit while tinkering with HTML! I made the leap into financial services in 2005, entering through the CFD & FX sector – but always working on the B2B side of the business.
Those early years were fast-moving and full of change, not unlike what we’re seeing in crypto today. It was an era of rapid expansion, steep learning curves, and making my own fair share of mistakes, all of which played a role in shaping me. I did a few years contracting in FX, Payments, and various technology firms before finding my way back into the FX liquidity space with GAIN Capital, where I led the B2B Relationship Management team before taking the reins of the CFD Liquidity business. That role evolved significantly when GAIN Capital was acquired by StoneX in 2020, leading to the integration of our CFD Liquidity team with StoneX’s long-established FX division. This merger ultimately paved the way for StoneX Pro, led by Eric Donovan, whose leadership has been instrumental in refining and expanding our FX offering. It’s been quite a ride – one that has taken me through different industries, technologies, and market cycles. But what’s kept it exciting is the constant innovation and the sense that, even two decades in, there’s still so much ahead.
What do your current day to day responsibilities at the firm usually involve?
I lead the sales and marketing activities for StoneX Pro, so my primary focus is on expanding our eFX client base and driving revenue growth. I’m fortunate to work with an exceptional team of seasoned professionals who are highly experienced. I try to take on a more strategic approach to our sales and marketing effort to support both global and regional activities.
In collaboration with Claire Dollander in our New York office, we work closely with our regional sales leadership teams to localise our marketing strategies.
Fred Allatt – who has been with StoneX for nearly 14 years and is a well-known figure in the industry – leads the Americas team, alongside Nichole Herendeen, Jeff Blanco, and Sara Gonzalez Leyva.
In APAC, a region that has seen significant growth for StoneX Pro in recent years, Qian Ying Goh leads our efforts alongside Jeanette Kong. Much of my time is spent understanding the unique requirements of each region and collaborating with the local teams to support their growth trajectory.
Our EMEA operations are based in London, with Andrea Michael on the sales team and Sevinc Edikci and Cristina Garcia Hernandez handling FX operations and client support. My role is essentially ensuring this talented, high-performing team has the support they need to excel, while getting out of the way to let them do what they do best. Together, we’re building an effective global strategy that drives results while remaining adaptable to local needs.
Please remind us about the range of turnkey FX solutions that StoneX Pro provides for its clients.
We offer a simplified and cost-effective one-stop solution for FX trading, hedging and liquidity with advanced digital platforms, and peace of mind knowing that our parent company, StoneX Group, is publicly traded and Moody’s/S&P-rated, and serves 54,000+ institutional and commercial clients worldwide.
We bundle everything needed to tap into the global FX market in a simple and turnkey account structure. This includes institutional-grade liquidity across 40+ currencies, including emerging markets: spot FX, forwards, swaps, NDFs, options, and deliverable FX in 17 currencies. We offer one single point of contact that manages liquidity relationships, all STP mapping, legal agreements, reporting, counterparty credit and netting, and more. Our clients benefit from our high-performance infrastructure using just one counterparty, one connection, one account. Our solutions are scalable and can handle trade sizes from $50K to $500MM. As a non-bank FX broker, we have the ability to serve our clients’ needs more effectively than traditional bank providers: our clients can open an account in just a few weeks, access liquidity across a broad portfolio of FX products, and leverage our 24/6 dealing desk and a variety of services tailored to their needs.
We offer a broader scope of services and address our clients’ business needs, whether it involves ongoing currency transactions, trading options or NDFs, or seeking guidance on hedging specific risks. We offer more flexibility than traditional banks while we are well capitalized and have high regulatory standards. Another aspect that makes our offering attractive is our competitive pricing. By blending our own market maker liquidity with that of tier 1 banks, we give our clients access to market-leading spreads and unique deep liquidity pools across 40+ exchanges. StoneX Group, our parent company, trades $4.4 trillion annually. StoneX Retail (Forex.com and City Index) with 400,000+ retail clients and StoneX Payments providing currency delivery across 350+ correspondent banks, are also part of the StoneX Group FX ecosystem. This wide-ranging reach positions StoneX Pro uniquely in the FX markets. Thanks to our scale and our ability to offer professionally managed liquidity, StoneX Pro is able deliver a competitively priced institutional offering.
What types of firms are choosing to leverage the expertise and advanced technology of StoneX Pro to reduce overheads and complexity and what factors are increasingly attracting more of them to do this?
StoneX Pro serves clients across the financial spectrum. As a multi-asset broker, we leverage existing relationships within StoneX’s global Metals, Commodities, and Securities businesses, where extending FX coverage is often a seamless and logical progression. For many of these clients, FX is an essential but secondary component of their operations, so the ability to access FX hedging and deliverable FX services through an established partnership – with minimal additional financial investment – is highly valuable.
We’ve strategically positioned ourselves away from the HFT and Prime of Prime segments of the FX market, where it has become increasingly challenging to add meaningful value. Instead, our focus is on financial firms where FX isn’t their sole or primary business focus—such as asset managers, hedge funds, and regional banks. These clients see significant value in outsourcing their FX liquidity needs and technology to a partner with the regulatory framework, financial stability, and expertise of StoneX. Similarly, we support clients who require access to a broader portfolio of liquidity than what is typically available through single-bank platforms. Our Fintech clients, in particular, appreciate the opportunity to focus on their core competencies while trusting StoneX Pro to invest in the liquidity and technology they need to support their businesses. By delivering these “raw materials” efficiently and reliably, we help them achieve their goals while allowing them to scale and innovate.
We know you and your team have been working on a new and important corporate hedging offering and will have more to say about that a little later this year, but can you share any details about it with us at this stage?
We’ve taken a close look at the FX market and identified a significant opportunity for a company with StoneX’s financial strength and expertise to deliver a truly compelling corporate FX service. With all the necessary product components already in place, we’re well- positioned to develop this offering. While I can’t go into too much detail about the specifics just yet, one of my primary focuses over the next six months will be laying the groundwork to cater to corporate hedging clients later this year. It’s an exciting initiative that I believe will bring real value to this segment of the market.
It takes a long time to build trust amongst participants in this industry. How has StoneX Pro managed to achieve that?
Building trust in the financial industry takes time, and with a century of experience, StoneX has had the opportunity to learn and grow alongside the clients we serve. As we celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2024, one thing remains clear: trust is earned by consistently putting our clients first and supporting their success. Achieving this requires having the right people in the right roles, working with dedication and expertise. Since joining StoneX in 2020 through the merger with GAIN Capital, I’ve been continually impressed by the calibre of my colleagues and their unwavering commitment to meeting and exceeding client expectations. The quality of our people is our secret sauce.
In your opinion what are the key attributes that clients are looking for from their institutional FX providers and how has StoneX Pro tried to differentiate itself from competitors?
Clients expect FX providers to deliver flexibility, cost efficiency, and exceptional customer service so we have prioritised these attributes. Being close to clients and offering a flexible approach is in StoneX’s DNA. It allows us to adapt to the diverse needs of our clients and offer tailored solutions that align with their business models and strategies. Cost efficiency is another key area where we differentiate ourselves, ensuring our pricing is competitive while maintaining the highest standards of execution and service.
It’s worth noting that being cost-effective doesn’t necessarily mean being the cheapest. Instead, it’s about delivering real value to our clients by focusing on solutions that address their specific needs and operational challenges. Having this value-oriented approach ensures we provide the right balance of competitive pricing and high-quality service that supports our clients’ success. Most importantly, we pride ourselves on being customer-oriented, placing the needs of our clients at the heart of everything we do. By maintaining close relationships and actively listening to their feedback, we’ve built a reputation for delivering personalised services and solutions. This combination of adaptability, value, and customer focus is what truly distinguishes StoneX in the FX space.
In what ways has the culture of your company with its commitment to your clients’ success and the high standards expected from employees also helped in facilitating its success?
We employ a multi-faceted approach to staying current with technological demands. Our in-house IT department, staffed with top-tier talent, is a cornerstone of our technological innovation. This team develops and maintains our proprietary systems and platforms, driving the adoption of new technologies and shaping how we deliver our services. Their expertise and commitment to best practices are instrumental in keeping us at the forefront of the industry.
We also collaborate with external vendors, leveraging best-in-class technology solutions when they offer clear advantages over internal development. These partnerships allow us to benefit from the specialised expertise of vendors which excel in their respective fields, ensuring we remain agile and up to date. However, the most critical component of our technology strategy is listening to our clients. Their feedback frequently shapes our direction, particularly in fast-evolving areas of the business.
By integrating client-driven requirements into our technology roadmap, we can provide solutions that not only meet their needs but also enable them to scale and succeed in their own businesses. It’s a client-focused approach so we remain aligned with the market and ready to adapt to emerging trends.
Cutting-edge technology has now become an essential ingredient for delivering institutional FX services. How does your team go about staying on top of that requirement to ensure you are investing in the right technology areas and future proofing as far as possible?
We have three methods to stay on top of technological requirements. StoneX has a significant IT department, and we hire the best people to develop our proprietary systems. That team with those skills is a significant driving force behind our adoption of new technology and ways of delivering our services. We frequently turn to them for best practice. We use external vendors throughout our business, relying on best-of-breed technologists who focus on their competencies. We tend to use external technology vendors when we see significant advantages of going outside and not using our own technology. This too helps to stay current because we’re partnering with experts in their own area.
But fundamentally, the greatest tool we have to remain current is to listen to our client’s feedback. They are frequently the driver of our technology strategy. I’ve mentioned already that we see some parts of our business change rapidly in relation to how they want FX services delivered – we incorporate these requirements into our technology strategy and aim to give our customers the solutions they need to scale their own businesses.
In what ways do you expect to see technology and advances in electronification broadening your customer base and the range of institutional FX services you will be able to offer in the future?
The rapid rise of Fintechs, particularly Payment Service Providers and Digital Asset firms, has reshaped the landscape of FX services, driving a demand for seamless and efficient access to FX. This shift has influenced how we cater to a significant segment of our client base.
While our traditional brokerage model remains a cornerstone of our business, an increasing number of clients now view deliverable FX as a vital component in their service offerings. These clients seek FX solutions that are hassle-free, dependable, and easily integrated into their products—packaged as a consistent and reliable service with low maintenance. Looking ahead, we anticipate this demand to grow further. At StoneX, we are focusing to managing the complexities of liquidity curation, enabling our fintech clients to concentrate on what they do best – delivering their innovative solutions to the market.
What are your views about the fast-evolving Digital Assets and the Crypto markets and the opportunities they may represent for market leading FX dealers like StoneX Pro?
The digital assets and crypto markets have been on the cusp of mainstream adoption for several years, capturing the attention of both investors and institutions. While there are signs of growing acceptance in markets like the US, it remains difficult to gauge the depth and longevity of the current support. At StoneX, we are actively positioning ourselves to be a leader in this space. Our approval to operate a digital asset business in Ireland in 2024 represents a significant milestone, allowing us to provide innovative, regulated solutions that bridge the gap between traditional financial systems and the evolving world of crypto. This initiative enables us to support clients operating within this fast-changing sector, ensuring they have access to the expertise, security, and liquidity they need.
A key driver of StoneX Pro’s growth is the increasing reliance on FIAT currency by crypto brokers and digital asset firms. While cryptocurrencies often dominate the headlines, FIAT remains the essential backbone of these ecosystems, facilitating payments, settlements, and conversions. The rise of crypto has, in turn, driven a notable increase in demand for deliverable FX services, as brokers and exchanges require seamless access to traditional currencies to manage their operations. StoneX’s expertise in curating liquidity and delivering reliable, efficient FX solutions positions us to meet this demand and support the unique needs of this rapidly growing segment.
What’s on your agenda for this year in terms of focusing efforts to grow your business and client footprint around the world?
In addition to developing our corporate hedging service, we’re focused on expanding our client base beyond our core markets. StoneX has a strong track record in emerging and frontier markets, and we’re always exploring opportunities to establish a presence in regions where we can provide real value. For example, we brought Jeff Blanco on board in our Toronto office late last year, and we’re already seeing promising momentum in the Canadian market.
As I mentioned earlier, APAC remains a high-growth region for StoneX Pro. We’ll be concentrating on scaling our Singapore desk to meet the increasing local demand, supporting emerging markets across the region, and aligning our currency offering with the specific needs of these markets. These initiatives reflect our commitment to delivering tailored solutions and driving growth in regions where we see the greatest potential.
