Global fintech Ebury targets Australian fund and institutional sector in expansion move
The Australian arm of global foreign exchange (FX) and trade finance fintech Ebury has signalled its intention to boost services for the FX and hedging needs of Australian funds and financial institutions with a senior hire.
Ebury Australia has appointed James Swerling (pictured) as Senior Dealer, Funds and Institutional Sales, and tasked him with spearheading efforts to significantly grow the firm’s fund and financial institutions client base. Swerling has joined Ebury from AFEX, a global non-bank payment and risk management solutions provider. Swerling was with the firm for almost 12 years, finishing as Senior Dealer, Funds and Institutional Sales.
Ebury Asia Pacific Managing Director Rick Roache said servicing the transactional FX and hedging needs of Australia’s growing fund sector would become a key pillar of Ebury’s business in the region.
“Ebury has built a reputation as a market leader with our core products of spot FX, hedging, cash management and trade finance for importing and exporting SMEs. Through the addition of James and increased investment we will be significantly boosting our compelling offering for venture capital funds and private equity firms as well as their underlying portfolio companies,” he added
Roache said Ebury Australia had successfully supported multiple funds’ currency risk management through hedging and currency swaps when the funds made investments in overseas assets or received investment from entities dealing in a foreign currency.
“In our first foray into this segment we have shown how we can provide funds with a more competitive proposition than traditional incumbents due to our more sophisticated product offering and our ability to price our balance sheet more competitively, translating to either collateral or margin improvements for our clients. We see this as a major growth engine for Ebury across the Asia Pacific region,” Roache said.
Ebury, which established its Australian operation in 2018, is the largest non-bank in the world that focuses on SME and funds trading internationally. It has FX and trade finance capabilities in more than 130 currencies and offices in 20 countries linked by a single best-in-class platform. It has grown rapidly in Australia competing head-on with in particular large banks, growing it’s revenues by more than 100% last year alone.
Swerling said, “I am very excited to be joining Ebury due to its already strong footprint in the funds space in Europe. The business’ experience and expertise in dealing with the complex requirements of these entities will stand us in great stead as well build out our footprint in Asia Pacific”.
