 In the first part of the show, we're going to focus on the brokerage sector, of course, the challenges and opportunities over there. And for this purpose, let me bring to the show my first guest this evening, Tanka Nanderson, CEO of TickMeal. Good evening and thank you so much for joining us. Good evening, very nice to meet you. Well, I would like to start of course with regulation. It has been more than a year since ESMA cut forest leverage so far. What's the impact on TickMeal's accounting? Of course, when I say ESMA, I would like to specify for our viewers I'm talking about European securities and markets authority. Yes. Well, it's fair to say that we noticed an initial drop in overall volumes when the ESMA leverage came out. Having said that, we've seen a gradual normalization to pre-ESMA levels since then. In fact, this October was the second best month by volume in TickMeal's history. I mean, an interesting point to notice that TickMeal clients have always had the ability to manage their own leverage. So in large part, the impact has been relatively mild. A significant amount of our clients actually use algos. That just required a little bit of tweaking by them to ensure that their trading was uninterrupted by the changes. I mean, there is some anecdotal evidence that the clients are trading for longer time periods now. And this has potentially also led to increased profitability. We've noticed that clients have been happy to deposit additional funds, especially given the FSCS protection that's available and the fact that TickMeal has a strong balance sheet. What we have not done, though, is repaper our European client base. And that's to say, we haven't repapered in other jurisdictions where there may be better leverage conditions. As we see this as a sort of pure regulatory arbitrage, and the risks involved in that are significant. And have you changed something in terms of strategies? As far as strategies go, it's really business as usual. Like I said, will we repaper clients, our European client base? No, we won't. We will keep everything as is. So it really is a cut in leverage. It doesn't affect us. It doesn't affect our clients. That's our belief. On the other side, according to trade stats released exactly by brokers, they actually showed that there are always customers that lose, which is pretty natural. But still, even if it's natural, it's a problem because of course nobody wants to lose. Do you think the broker's business and client should be split between gambler and professional? And do you think that this is plausible? I think first of all, there are a number of variables that we don't see. I mean, for instance, the use of hedging by clients. So the statistics we get and make available may appear to be a little bit skewed. Second, I mean, Tick Mill as a company goes through extreme lengths to ensure its clients are trading investment products in order that they have the opportunity to get the best possible outcome. We believe that all our clients are professional in their approach to investing. And this includes things like the suitability tests to ensure they know exactly what they're investing in, educational material that we provide ensures clients are making educated trading decisions. And current legislation is there to ensure that only serious experienced professional traders are working with Tick Mill. Furthermore, I mean, all traders want the best possible outcomes available. And I think Tick Mill provides that. And it's probably evidenced by the feedback that we get from our clients. And on the other side, are you aiming at geographical expansion? Of course, I'm talking about your services. Yes, we are. You know, we service clients in many countries around the world. And I'd say that Tick Mill is global in nature and in outlook. So yes. And can you share it as where exactly or it's something that you cannot release? No, sure. I mean, we're seeing growth in all areas. But actually probably the most accelerated growth we've seen is in Asia, the MENA region and South America. And while we do do targeted marketing, in actual fact, we actually attract many clients from word of mouth. And this is due mainly to Tick Mill's trading conditions, which are probably some of the best in the industry. Another point that is that Tick Mill's invested heavily in our country managers, as they have the sort of knowledge and unique experience to better understand our clients' needs and act on them much faster than in normal circumstances. And this ultimately leads to better customer service outcomes all around. And talking about geographical expansion, I was also wondering if you thought to expand also your services, I mean to financial consultancy, for example, or this is not in your schedule? I mean, at the moment, our primary goal is to maintain an execution-only-based service. However, we have a significant educational offering, and that allows our clients the ability to get up-to-date trading information, whether it be news or analysis, in order for them to trade in the most effective way. But what we are probably sort of beginning to push through to now is seriously look at other asset classes like equities, futures and options, fund management, in order to provide us a full service offering. Well, that's pretty interesting. I was wondering, what is your opinion on consolidation of the sector, in particular in the United States? Actually, two important brokerage companies in the U.S. merged a little bit more than two weeks ago. I'm talking about TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab. Can we expect further consolidation in the sector, both in the United States and also here in Europe? And secondly, do you think this is something positive rather than negative? I mean, it's interesting. You mentioned consolidation, and certainly the Ameritrade Charles Schwab was fascinating to see. I think in the U.S. there's certainly room for more consolidation, especially when the fintech operators are now looking to head into this arena and take market share. I mean, probably in the U.K. in our sector, it's probably seen more as a game of attrition. If you've got the right setup, the right conditions, a strong balance sheet, and a loyal client base, you're going to survive generally. I mean, clients have multiple accounts with different providers, and what we're finding is that they'll probably oscillate towards the most solid brokers like Ticknell. This actually impacts the weaker, less competitive brokers, which forces them to consolidate or even actually leave the industry. So that's where we see the market going in this region. So you do not expect this, how can I say, consolidation wave to come also here in Europe? Well, I mean, there is consolidation, but there's also, I guess, attrition by weaker operations, actually just literally leaving the industry. We don't need to go after the smaller fish, basically, because like I said, clients generally have multiple accounts with different brokers. So you lose one broker, but there's still another one to go to. And talking about brokers, what would you advise our viewers? Which are the main requirements to look for a broker? Because certainly this is an important thing to choose the correct broker. Yeah, it's a big question, and all clients should ask similar questions like this. Strong regulation, we're an SCA regulated entity. The SCA is a gold standard, and Ticknell is a firm support strong regulation. A strong balance sheet gives confidence both to clients and to our counterparties. Competitive consistent spreads are always going to reduce cost for clients, competitive execution speed. I mean, we've got many algo traders, and this is a major requirement for them. I mean, there are lots of things that make up the whole like VPS, educational material, and so on and so on. Everything that you need to facilitate effective trading, but probably one of the most important elements, I would say, is customer service. And I mean, what do I mean by this? I mean, effective communication and support from the Ticknell team and possibly the most important element of this is honesty and integrity. This is the ethos by which Ticknell would like to be known. And do you expect any, how can I say, negative or positive impact on Ticknell after the Brexit is going to be done? Well, I'm not sure if Brexit is going to be done. I think we just got a way to see till Friday morning. My personal view, it's going to be a close one. But I do believe the Conservatives will get in. Having said that, and not wanting to hedge myself fully, we've had so many upsets. There's still room for one more. I was asking this because actually Ticknell has been very successful here in Italy. And actually my next question is your general assessment of your work here in Italy and what have you done so far? We've been active in the Italian market since 2015. And we've seen significant growth. I mean, thanks to a real sort of local approach, as I said before, through our sort of regional operators. We've been at Expos in Rimini and Milan in Rome. And we do many online webinars. And that's been a major boost for us. I mean, it's fair to say that last year it's been a bit affected by the ESMA measures. But actually we continue to offer a quality service. And we look to expand our project range to our Italian clients. Because for us, it really is a significant and important market being at the heart of the EU. And that's really where we want to stay. And exactly, you were talking about Expos. Where is the next stop? Where are we going to see you? Well, I mean, the Rimini, Milan, Rome are the ones we've just been in Germany. But in Italy, it will be doing the rounds, for sure. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Anderson. See you all. Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your opinion. Many thanks indeed. Thank you.