What I Look for When Hiring a COO in an FX/CFD Business
The COO title hides very different jobs. In an FX/CFD business, the role is defined by where risk, technology and operations meet.
COO is one of the most elastic titles in financial services. Two people can hold it, report to the same CEO, and do almost nothing in common. In an FX/CFD brokerage the role is defined less by a job description than by where risk, technology and operations meet — and that is what the search has to test.
Start with the operating model
Before a shortlist, I want to know how the business actually makes money. Is it principal or agency? Where does execution risk sit? How much of the client base is retail, professional or institutional? Which jurisdictions matter, and what does the licence allow? A COO who has only ever run operations at a large, well-staffed broker will struggle in a lean firm where the same person has to own payments, client money and a technology roadmap.
The four things I test
1. Owning the middle of the business. The COO sits between trading and risk on one side and client-facing functions on the other. I look for evidence that they have held that tension — not just managed a function inside it.
2. Client money and payments. In a regulated brokerage, client money, reconciliation and payment rails are unforgiving. I want to see someone who has owned these directly, or been close enough to understand where they break.
3. Technology judgement. The COO rarely writes the code, but they commission the platform, choose vendors and carry the consequences. I test how they have made technology decisions when the options were imperfect and the timeline was real.
4. Regulatory credibility. The COO is often the person the regulator meets when something has gone wrong. That requires someone who can be calm, precise and honest under scrutiny.
What the CV will not tell you
A CV will list functions and employers. It will not tell you whether the candidate can hold a difficult line with a founder, whether they protect the client franchise when a growth number is at stake, or whether they understand that in a small firm, process is a tool and not a religion. Those are the things I assess in conversation, against the specific outcomes the appointment must deliver.
What the client should do first
Write down the two or three things the business must achieve in the next eighteen months, and be honest about which of them the current team cannot deliver. The right COO for a licensing and launch phase is not the right COO for a scale-up or a remediation. Decide that before you brief the search, and the shortlist gets considerably easier.
That is the difference between filling a title and making an appointment.