About the Firm: How did you get started?
Founded over 20 years ago as an energy brokerage and consulting firm, Coquest has grown to include a wide range of investment products and services.
Do you provide additional services besides brokerage?
Managed futures products, OTC & futures hedging services, CTA/CPO media design services.
What are the biggest challenges your clients face today, and how do you help them?
One of the issues facing our clients involved in managed products is the correct balance and allocation of programs. With volatility at record highs, we feel it’s our responsibility to work with our clients to have a balanced approach to their investment portfolios.
For our hedging clients, it has become more complicated with the huge increase in available products. We make sure we take the time to design hedging programs that may have a diverse balance of exchange traded and OTC instruments.
How has the futures and options industry evolved since you first started in business?
The industry has certainly become more complex. In the past 20 years the number of products has increased, international exposure has become much more critical, volatility is at record levels and advances in technology and communications has revolutionized the way we do business.
What do you believe to be the keys to your success?
Some things never change – service. Our number one priority has always been to give our clients a superior level of service that, in our opinion, can only be delivered by an independent firm with a fundamental understanding of the marketplace.
What trends are you most excited about/worried about?
We’re certainly excited about the advancement in available products. With the increase in products we have been able to offer more effective hedging strategies and a wider spectrum of managed products. Recent banking, FCM and regulatory issues are without a doubt a concern to us and to our clients. When FCMs collapse and regulatory agencies we have always counted on to protect us skirt the issues, it leads to a lack of faith in the system.
Why did you become a member of the NIBA?
The NIBA has always been a source of reliable information and education as well as a solid voice of representation to the exchanges, regulatory agencies and Washington.
Contact:
Steve Petillo, petillo@coquest.com
www.coquest.com
www.srcattorneys.com
SRC, PC is a law firm in Chicago experienced with the needs of the financial community. Contact Steve Pherson, Partner & NIBA legal advisor at spherson@srcattorneys.com.