JOHANNESBURG - Astute businessman Daniel Kibel says he is on a quest to expand the footprint of his financial brokerage firm across Africa and the world.
He started CM Trading six years ago to offer trading across various investments including forex, indicies, stocks, commodities and cryptocurrencies.
Since its inception in 2012, Kibel, 45, a father of two girls, says his firm has grown to be the “largest retail broker in South Africa”.
The international financial trading company has offices in numerous locations around the world; in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
CM Trading’s South Africa offices are based in the Sandton City Office Tower in Johannesburg.
“Running international offices and ensuring cooperation is a big job and is certainly challenging!” says Kibel, a former dealer in the trading room of iForex, one of the largest brokers in the world.
“However it enables us to expand our footprint in other jurisdictions and allows us to learn the best way about the local market. We are looking to expand into more locations in 2018.”
Daniel Kibel is director of financial brokerage CM Trading which he started in 2012 and has offices across the world including in Sandton, Johannesburg. PICTURE: SUPPLIED.
CM Trading recently clinched the 2018 Best Broker: Africa award for their “exceptional commitment” to innovation, quality, and providing a robust forex system in Africa, among others.
Kibel, who holds an MBA from Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology, says CM Trading has always had a very large footprint in Africa.
“We call ourselves ‘Your Local International Broker’ because that is what we are. We embrace the local market and its customs but come with an international outlook.”
An ardent fan of Arsenal Football Club, the London-born Kibel maintains that their strength in South Africa was the fact that they understood they couldn’t dictate the market to South Africans.
“Our aim is to continue expanding all over Africa and in the other markets we specialise in. We are very proud to be the largest retail broker in South Africa,” says Kibel, who also holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and politics from Manchester University.
He held numerous management positions at some of the largest online trading companies, before starting his own company.
“We wanted to do something different. I just felt that in my previous companies the focus was not where I felt it should be. While everyone else was investing hugely in online advertising, CM Trading went offline,” he explains.
“We realised that around the world, partnerships was the way to go. We became successful in South Africa purely through word of mouth and recommendations.”
Kibel says CM Trading also offers support with the intricacies of cryptocurrency trading. “This market is often complex and convoluted but it doesn’t have to be, it can be easy and enjoyable and can turn your world around, with the right tools and backing.”
He adds: “Cryptocurrencies are clearly the future. Even institutions have begun trading cryptocurrencies with CM Trading as they realise that this phenomenon has the potential to boost control of their trade.”
However, Kibel says he doesn’t like the volatility in cryptocurrencies. “Moves of 10% a day happen often which makes them super-high risk for clients. We do offer some cryptocurrencies, but with low risk possibilities,” he says.
“Unfortunately we are also seeing some major fraud, as people jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. I cannot stress strongly enough to people. If something looks too good to be true – it normally is too good to be true. Invest in something real – something you can trust.”
CM Trading, which is regulated by the Financial Services Board, was awarded the Best Performing Broker in Africa 2017 by Africa Investor during a recent event held at Nasdaq in New York.
“Although this is something that we knew we could win, an award of this nature is recognition of the amazing work that each and every one of our teams is doing each every day to push CM Trading forward,” says Kibel, who accepted the award in person.
He stresses, however, that he was representing CM Trading’s employees as well as the values and trust that he describes as the cornerstones of their business and key to success.
“While we still have much to do, we are definitely on the map and very much heading in the right direction.”