Fintech entrepreneurs launch FX risk management firm Instantia with backing from VNG

Industry veterans Richard Poulton and Danny Pezeshki have joined forces with Vietnamese tech giant VNG to launch a currency (FX) risk management firm Instant the one based in Australia.

The two said in a statement Monday that by providing organizations with real-time market information to make smarter financial decisions, the end-to-end platform revolutionizes currency exchange by consolidating currency hedging positions in a user-friendly interface.

The free mobile and desktop app offers a full suite of services, including currency options, futures contracts, spot foreign exchange, rate orders and cross-border payment functionality.

Under an AFS license and supported by VNG, the founders of ZaloPay and Zalo (a Vietnamese messaging application with 75.8 million monthly active users in 2023), the statement says Instantia is set to become the go-to solution for importers and exporters sailing around the world. Volatile fluctuations of the Australian dollar against major currencies.

Drawing on the pair’s decades of high-level experience at AFEX and Poulton’s tenure at Corpay, the founders identified a significant opportunity for innovation in the sector, as chief financial officers (CFOs) were often reliant on outdated paper-based systems that failed to reflect current market data.

According to the statement, now heading into 2024, the largest election year on record globally, and with heightened geopolitical events and activity, the need for fiscal visibility and currency confidence has never been more critical.

“In 2023, the AUD has shown a significant range of movement of 13.5% against the USD, highlighting currency risk and the critical need for businesses to implement appropriate risk management strategies,” Poulton said.

“Typically, companies partner with financial institutions to implement these strategies, using tools such as futures and options,

“However, managing multiple tools at different times increases this complexity,” he noted.

In his view, not maintaining real-time visibility of FX positions can often lead to disastrous and costly consequences, as many firms experienced during the AUD “Covid Crash” of 2020.

According to the statement, Instantia’s system accurately predicts positions by combining real market information from Bloomberg Intelligence, internal data modeling and quantitative analysis.

“Throughout my career, I’ve had CFOs call me in tears because they were stuck in 12- or 18-month options structures with no wiggle room when the market was up 5 to 10 percent against them,

“With these outdated and inadequate service models from financial institutions, customers don’t always understand the contracts they’re entering into,” Pezeshki said.

“They work with complicated Excel spreadsheets and have no transparency into opportunities and risks within their portfolio,

“We created the Instantia platform to address all these problems. Rather than being sales-centric, Instantia is customer-centric,” she said.

Poulton added that stress in financial services can be crippling and has had a profound impact on me on a personal level.

“Following my journey, I have decided to promote better mental health and well-being in the industry,
“Insanta’s commitment to responsible risk management is part of this commitment,” he said.

He further noted that in Latin, Instantia means “to be present,” a commitment to staying in touch with the firm’s clients throughout their entire FX journey.

“We are not a faceless company; we are a strategic partner,” she said.

According to the statement, the main features of the Relative Momentum Index (RMI) interface include Strategy Builder and Market Matrix.

Strategy Builder innovatively guides users in customizing a hedging strategy based on their hedging experience and risk profiles.

Meanwhile, Market Matrix is ​​a revolutionary collection of intelligent tools that analyzes market data and projects insights such as trigger level probabilities and rate expectations, facilitating quick and informed hedging decisions.

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