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Chicago Luncheon How and How Not to Market Derivatives to Retail Investors

Post on: 13 Апрель, 2015 No Comment

Chicago’s options and futures professionals flocked to the Union League Club on May 25th for the FCS’ first derivatives luncheon

Moderated by Scott Nations, President and CIO of NationsShares and co-host of CNBC’s Options Action, the panel featured Mary Savoie, First Vice President of Industry Services for The Options Clearing Corporation; JJ Kinahan, Chief Derivatives Strategist for TD Ameritrade; and Jim O’Connell, Vice President of Managed Futures for PFGBEST.

The panelists tackled issues including customer acquisition, client life cycle management, regulatory and compliance, and marketing and promotional channels. Key takeaways from the lively discussion include:

Education, transparency, oversight and clear communication to all constituents, including regulators, is critical to successful marketing. Regulators especially are more understanding when they have a relationship with the firm introducing new products.

The most effective way to keep clients engaged is through active trading appropriate to their level of sophistication. This will encourage their learning curve and help them become better traders.

The role of the firm is thus often to save investors from themselves, by helping them set realistic expectations for risk and reward and building sustained growth over time, rather than attempting to achieve too-quick returns.

The advisor/RIA channel is important, as a recent Options Industry Council study found that 50 percent of financial advisors currently use options today. Advisors who are not users, however, require special care, as they are reluctant to appear publicly as needing to acquire specialized knowledge. Online and advisor-only seminars are good strategies for educating neophytes. Panelists thought futures will follow suit in being used by more investors.

Social media is still challenged to meet compliance issues, as many compliance departments cannot keep up with the pace of technological change. That said, the value of a successful social strategy can be great: TD Ameritrade, for example, allows sophisticated traders to post their trades so that other investors can follow them, which has become a popular website feature.

About the Financial Communications Society (FCS):

The Financial Communications Society (FCS), a not-for-profit organization, is dedicated to improving professional standards in financial communications. It provides professionals in the industry with a forum for gathering relevant information, sharing ideas and building relationships with industry colleagues. The FCS hosts the annual FCS Portfolio Awards, for creative excellence in financial services advertising, a monthly luncheon series featuring prominent industry speakers, and numerous educational events. The capstone of the annual charity-focused activities organized by the FCS is the FCS Race for Kids (www.fcsraceforkids.org ) which has raised more than $1.85 million for three children’s charities since 2000.

For more information on the FCS, please visit: www.fcsinteractive.com or send an email to info@fcsinteractive.com.

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