Risk and reward

Anna Olejarczyk: What made you enter the Polish market?

Ian Firla: A number of factors. The overriding factor was the opportunity and the comfort of knowing the market did not have anyone doing what we're doing. First of all, from the regulatory point of view, there's no reason why we couldn't be in Poland. From the point of view of transport [of data], so there's no reason why we couldn't do it here. Why would we open up another office somewhere in the London area when we can come to Poland and tap into all the opportunities? Our goal was to open offices in several of the major cities in Poland simply because if you're not in Chicago, you may as well be anywhere. In Poland, the people, for many reasons, want to stay closer to home, to where they grew up.

What can derivatives trading do for the current market situation in Poland?

Well, we don't trade anything that's specific to Poland. We are looking to become a member of the Warsaw Stock Exchange and need to gain some local business. We are currently in talks with the WSE.

Do you trust the market?

All of our transactions are cleared by central counterparties and there's no question, never a risk that the other side of the trade isn't going to be taken up. So there's no risk for us.

What are your firm's plans in Poland? In general?

We're looking to expand our areas as much as we can. Right now we trade a great deal of derivatives in short-term interest rates and fixed incomes. We also trade energy products and various equity indexes and bonds. Right now, we trade on the most liquid products. The more diversified we are, the more products we can offer to our traders, the less risk is carried in any one given area. We're never in a situation where we have nothing to do.

There's a stereotype that traders want to make money and make it quickly. Do you find this attitude here in Poland?

There's this industry myth that you start as a trader that you are driving away from a Porsche dealership within four months. Yes, you can make a lot of money, but it can take a long time. This is not a lottery where you make money in the blink of an eye. You are taking a risk. Our traders work incredibly hard. This is the hardest job in the world and the reward can be very, very good.

What was said [at the recent Derivatives World CEE conference] was that the feeling in the global market that there's a bigger appetite for bigger money in Poland than in other countries in Europe. What they mean is that where an trader in certain countries may be satisfied by earning a certain amount, Polish traders are interested in earning as much as they possibly can. They are never satisfied. They want to earn more.

It's an interesting opportunity. The trader is in charge of his or her own destiny. The trader is trading the company's money and the bonuses they earn are based on their success.