Foreign Exchange Trading Achieves High Returns

Foreign Exchange Trading Achieves High Returns

Very favourable returns are being achieved by a new foreign exchange trading service - FX Invest - a 'smart investment' alternative which trades foreign exchange on behalf of its clients who are mostly small to medium investors. Trades are based on long-established hedging practices honed over many years in financial markets on behalf of the larger corporates.

NZ Currency Concepts Ltd is a small partnership of ex-dairy and banking industry executives who broke away from big company careers to launch FX Invest, an independent foreign exchange trading service, at the end of 2003.

Performance of clients' accounts to date has been excellent by any standards, on the first six months' trading. FX Invest clients enjoy an average return in excess of 20 percent: 'Foreign exchange markets are more volatile than equities and so generate more opportunities to capture movements towards highs and lows' says business manager and director Scott Healey.

'As far as we know no other company in New Zealand offers market access for a minimum of $2 000, yet our volumes command wholesale FX bank rates which we pass on to our stakeholders, most of whom seem to be youngish with active lifestyles. Usually with other investments but not substantially wealthy.

'We manage contracts and transactions daily, taking positions and closing them out as the market moves, based on our combined experience of 28 years foreign exchange trading. Continual management and wholesale foreign exchange rates are the key to our high returns' he says.

Fee levels are low by comparison with managed funds: there is no registration or upfront fee, and FX Invest earns a margin of .5pp (half a currency point) on trades, and also takes 15 percent of the client's profit in excess of 2.5 percent accounted quarterly.

Risk levels are of course higher in marginal currency trading than other financial products. But this is offset by very favourable leverages which multiply the potential positively or negatively for participants.

So far results have been outstanding for their 'smart investment' service, reports business manager Healy - an average return on cash invested well in excess of managed funds.

BACKGROUNDERS

Scott Healey Business manager Scott Healey has nine years currency trading experience and was most recently head of wholesale foreign exchange dealing for National Bank. Under his leadership National Bank became the leading FX provider, first to introduce 24/hour dealing out of New Zealand.

Janie Elrick Jane Elrick, chartered accountant, heads sales and marketing. She was formerly general manager corporate finance with New Zealand Dairy Group and latterly chief financial officer with Zespri International. She worked in the dairy industry for eight years, managing the Fonterra treasury fund throughout the merger transition.

Edward Harman NZ Currency Concepts chairman is Edward Harman. He is also managing director of Fairthorne Investments (NZ) Ltd, a risk and venture capital supplier, a director of Maxwell Marine Limited and chairman of Escalator Advertising Limited. This followed four years with SG Warburg in London, working on takeovers, rights issues and placements for Warburg's blue chip clients.

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