I believe all traders won't forget the volatility of market during the 1991-Gulf War. Sterling Pound was pumped over 2.0000 vs. USD during that period. 
Interview with Alan Payne, Marketing Manager of Pan-Index (www.pan-index.com), conducted by Andy Richardson, editor - Financial-Spread-Betting.com. E-mail Andy for questions or to suggest an interview at traderATfinancial-spread-betting.com.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Hi, can you introduce yourself and your company to our readers?
Alan: My name is Alan Payne and I am the Marketing Manager with Pan-Index.com. Pan-Index Ltd is Ireland's first real time online Financial Bookmaker offering commission-free and no Capital Gain Tax trading on International Financial Markets, Foreign Exchanges and Indices. In addition, Pan-Index.com is a primary market maker in spot currency transactions, and offers one of the largest growing online Financial Market and Indices trading services
Financial-Spread-Betting: When did Pan-Index first open for business?
Alan: Pan-Index opened its doors for business in February 04, and while we are a relatively new company our staff members have many years of experience in both the financial and orthodox gaming fields.
I believe all traders won't forget the volatility of market during the 1991-Gulf War. Sterling Pound was pumped over 2.0000 vs. USD during that period.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Where exactly is your business located? Do you have any international offices?
Alan: Our head office is located in Dublin, Ireland.
Financial-Spread-Betting: What are the minimum/maximum stakes?
Alan: The minimum stake is 1 euro, the maximum stake differs depending on the Market however in general this shall be 500 euro.
Financial-Spread-Betting: What is the minimum deposit required to open an account? Is there a maximum deposit?
Alan: There is no minimum or maximum deposit, however obviously if you want to start trading you should have enough in your account in order to cover the original IMR for your selected market.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Are accounts denominated only in EUR or can clients trade with GBP and USD as well?
Alan: Currently all accounts are denominated in Euro, however we are looking into the possibility of offering account in order currencies in the near future.
Financial-Spread-Betting: What is the Initial Margin Requirement (and general margin requirements)?
Alan: Our general margin requirement ranges from €100 up to €250. You can obtain more details from our websites under the Product and Services.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Do you offer Stop Losses? Credit Betting? Demo Account? Can Stop Losses be activated when you are closed? Do you apply slippage?
Alan: Currently as we are in the process of designing our own in house software which shall have the following options: Stop Losses and Demo Accounts, however in the mean time we can supply customers with Demo account upon request and can accept Stop Losses via the phone.
Financial-Spread-Betting: What instruments are available to bet on at Pan-Index?
Alan: Currently we cover a large world wide range or Indices including both Future and Daily Spot markets, some of which are not available anywhere else. In terms of stocks are previously stated we have recently begun offering many of the top listed stocks on the Hong Kong Stock exchange and plan to offer a large variety of US shares very shortly. We also cover a large variety of currency markets.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Having looked at your trading screen it appears that you don't offer trading on top US NASDAQ stocks such AMGN, MERQ, QCOM..etc?
Alan: Since we have opened our doors in February we have constantly been adding extra markets. We recently added as list of companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock exchange due to the large amount of clients we have in Asia and we do plan on offering a large amount of US Stocks in the very near future.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Do you accept deposits by BACS?
Alan: Yes we do, for further details on all deposit methods please refer to our website or contact our Trading Desk directly.
Financial-Spread-Betting: What is the maximum amount you can lose? (do you take bets on credit?)
Alan: We do not currently accept any credit accounts, however we shall look into this on a customer by customer case.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Do you accept Irish clients? UK clients? What about international clients?
Alan: We accept clients from all countries world wide and provide multi-lingual customer service representatives fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and of course English. Currently a large percentage of our clientele come from Asia.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Are you regulated by the FSA (United Kingdom)?
Alan: No, we are regulated by the Customs and Excise Department of the Revenue Commissioners of the Republic Of Ireland.
Financial-Spread-Betting: How wide are the spreads? How do they compare to other spread betting firms?
Alan: In general we believe are very competitive with those on offer with our competitors. For instances currently the spread offered for the Daily FTSE 100 Spot is 6 points.
Financial-Spread-Betting: What are your unique selling points (services are you offering that others aren't)? Why should our viewers switch from another spread betting firm to Pan-Index?
Alan: As stated previously we have a huge market share in Asia and offer clients a vast array of Asian Markets which may not be available with the majority of our competitors. This is not too say that we shall not offer a wide variety of US and UK stocks, as these shall be available very shortly. Along with low margins, tight spreads, our multi lingual website and operators, I believe we are a very attractive alternative to the majority of our competitors.
Financial-Spread-Betting: As of now, what trends do you see in the markets people choose to trade? Are there certain markets that clients seem to prefer? Do you think this will change over time?
Alan: With our Asian clients, their favorite by far is the Hang Seng Futures Markets due to it high volatility. In terms of other markets the NASDAQ Index and in Forex the USDYEN are very popular with our clientele, once again I believe this is due to the volatility of the markets. In terms of whether this shall change or not I presume its all down to market fluctuation.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Do you ever see the tax-free advantage of spread betting disappearing?
Alan: I supposed there may be a possibility; however I believe that due to the competitiveness of this industry if it where the case that taxes where introduces it might be the case that the firms absorb these.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Do you hedge the client aggregate positions or bear the risk yourself? We have heard several spread betting firms claiming that they hedge their exposure in the underlying markets but how do you exactly do this in practice?
Alan: Our Risk Control Management team is functioning on such kind of issues in order to protect both the company's and customers regarding risk exposure. In terms of the actual practice, unfortunately I am not at liberty to disclose this information as it is private and confidential.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Are there issues of competition between spread betting firms and conventional firms where the products they offer carry similar economic exposure but where best execution is applied differently?
Alan: From my own experience in trading I believe spread betting to be a far greater alternative to traditional trading, not only due to the tax situation but also the lower initial investment, Instant Trades and of course being able to profit from a falling market.
Financial-Spread-Betting: Do you operate any other sites besides www.pan-index.com
Alan: Pan-Index is a member of the Easybets Group. Easybets Ltd is an online gaming company which originally begun operating via betting shops in Ireland over 30 years ago. Today Easybets is one of the largest online sportsbooks in the world.
Financial-Spread-Betting: There are many sayings in the markets, do you have a favourite one?
Alan: Not particularly, however I do like a quote once made by Henry Ford "It is not the employer who pays the wages; he only handles the money. It is the product that pays the wages."
Financial-Spread-Betting: Any remarkable incident/ trade that happened you could share with us?
Alan: I believe all traders won't forget the volatility of market during the 1991-Gulf War. Sterling Pound was pumped over 2.0000 vs. USD during that period.
Financial-Spread-Betting: This concludes our interview with Alan Payne, of Pan-Index. Please feel free to browse other articles on this site and come back next week for our next exciting interview. If you have any questions regarding this interview or would like to suggest an interview, please contact traderATfinancial-spread-betting.com
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