On February 23rd the NIBA held its first conference of 2017 in Newport Beach, California. Promoted as being held in “toasty” southern California many attendees from the Chicago area commented that the weather they left back in the windy city was actually quite a bit warmer! In spite of the unseasonably cool 61° the conference was a great success!
I believe NIBA’s SoCal conferences are a bit different and in a way special from our conferences in Chicago and New York – the centers of the futures industry in the United States. The participants in the futures industry in California are spread out without a central location thus greatly diminishing the opportunity for building personal relationships that are so critical for success. There is no chance to run into another industry professional in the lobby of the Chicago Board of Trade building or perhaps to meet down the street at Luke’s Italian Beef to discuss the latest concerns in the industry as there is in Chicago. The SoCal conference successfully addressed this issue by bringing futures industry participants together. Frequently you would hear attendees greeting each other with “Bob, I haven’t seen you in years! How are you?” Old relationships were renewed and new ones started.
The first session: “Macroeconomics in a Donald Trump World” was presented by Erik Norland, the Executive Director and Senior Economist of CME Group. Erik addressed the impact of Trump’s fiscal policies on the currency, bond and equity markets and implications of the new Administration’s policies on trade and immigration, economic growth and investing in a highly leveraged world. Special focus was placed on Brexit and the future of the Euro noting that the upcoming elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany could either strengthen European unity or deepen the divide. We all should be closely watching the French elections on April 23 and the runoff on May 7.
Shane Stiles of Gate 39 Media was up next with his session titled “Marketing is a Process: Defining and Executing an End-to-End Marketing Process”. Shane shared with his audience that whether you’re an IB or a CTA, selling retail trading, institutional execution, or managed futures that marketing starts with a process - from lead generation, recording lead and sales notes, to ongoing lead management. He stressed that you must follow your marketing plan with consistency for success, noting that much time, effort and cost is spent at the beginning of the process acquiring a lead which then often times is not managed efficiently and consistently – thus lowering the effectiveness of the marketing campaign. A statistic that clearly demonstrates why a process and plan is so important is that most accounts are opened 6-18 months after initial contact. Shane walked his listeners through defining a marketing process and options for managing your leads and marketing activities.
Closing out the day’s program was Robert DeMuria of Compliance Supervisors, Inc. with a presentation on compliance - focusing on cyber-security. Robert alerted his listeners that the NFA’s Cyber Security requirements that became effective on March 1, 2016 are now, after a period of education, adjustment and some leeway are starting to get implemented as the NFA gets serious about firms for alleged deficiencies in connection with cybersecurity procedures and policies. He stressed the need to know your cyber-security policy and what practical steps that can be taken to best protect against breaches and disruption from cyberattacks. He recommended the need for constant vigilance and monitoring of your policy to protect your firm and clients against the growing number and sophistication of malicious cyber threat incidents in the financial sector.
The conference concluded with a networking cocktail reception held in the beautiful open air atrium of the Marriott which provided the rare chance for participants to interact with their peers from across the southland, exchanging ideas, discussing concerns, and trading professional experiences.
I would like to thank our conference speakers Erik Norland, Shane Stiles and Robert DeMuria for sharing their expertise and acknowledge the generous sponsorship of the CME Group, Gain Capital and Phillip Capital that helped make the SoCal conference possible. A special thank you to event co-chair Ralph Preston for his work helping bring the SoCal conference together.
