This is the fourth article in our Why We Built Loqsea series. Lorenzo, Business Development Manager at Loqsea Technology, speaks to commodity traders and risk managers every week. This is what he hears.
The frustrations commodity trading desks share about their risk setups are remarkably consistent: fragmented data, no real-time visibility, and systems so rigid they break down when one person leaves. Most firms have normalised these problems for so long they assume that is just how things work. The moment they see a real-time, consolidated alternative, the conversation changes completely.
Most sales conversations in financial technology focus on the product. Lorenzo’s start somewhere different.
In his role at Loqsea, Lorenzo speaks to both traders and risk managers about their current setups: what is working, what is not, and what they wish they had. That dual perspective, across two functions that often want different things from the same system, gives him a picture of where risk management is really breaking down across an organisation.
What strikes him most is not the variety of problems he encounters. It is the consistency.
“That dual perspective, across two functions gives him a picture of where risk management is really breaking down across an organisation.”
The frustrations Lorenzo hears most consistently fall into three areas.
What Lorenzo finds striking is not that these problems exist. It is that most desks have stopped noticing them.
“Most desks have normalised these problems. But when you add them up, they are not small inefficiencies. They are real constraints.”
There is rarely a single moment that causes a commodity trading desk to start looking for a new risk management platform. It is almost always an accumulation.
“Rarely is there one defining trigger. It is usually a combination of things that have been building for a while. A desk that is growing and their current system cannot keep up. A new product that exposes the gaps. Or simply a point where the frustration of working around a broken setup finally outweighs the effort of doing something about it.”
One pattern Lorenzo sees repeatedly is how long the decision sits on the to-do list before it gets acted on. A new risk system is something many firms know they need. Getting it to the top of the priority list is something else entirely.
The moment that tends to shift a conversation from consideration to commitment is simpler than most people expect.
“The moment that tends to change things is when a buyer realises that having everything in one place and running in real time is actually possible. A lot of firms have lived with manual processes and fragmented data for so long that they just assume that is how it is.”
Once that realisation lands, the questions become practical. The two that come up most consistently are how long the implementation will take and whether they have to abandon their existing setup immediately.
The answer to both is straightforward. The setup does not take long. And firms can run Loqsea alongside what they already have, compare the two, and see the difference for themselves before committing to a full transition.
The surprises that come up most often after a firm moves to Loqsea are not the ones people anticipate going in.
Most expect implementation to be painful. It’s not as bad as people think. The time recovered from processes that used to be manual is another consistent observation. So is the experience of seeing everything connected in one place and understanding what a single, integrated system can actually do.
But the thing firms mention most is not the platform itself. It is the support.
“Not just resolving issues when they come up, but how willing we are to stay engaged and work with them if there is something specific they need.”
For a small, specialist team building infrastructure for some of the most demanding desks in commodity trading, that direct relationship is not an afterthought. It is part of what Loqsea is.
“What tends to happen is firms wait until their current setup can no longer cope or the manual processes have got out of hand. By then, the decision is being made under pressure. It is much better to explore your options when you have the time to do it properly than to be forced into a change at the worst possible moment.”
The closing thought Lorenzo offers is one that runs through every conversation he has.
“Most firms I speak to are surprised by how much has changed. The gap between what legacy platforms offer and what is possible today is bigger than most people realise. New ways of managing risk are worth exploring, especially if you feel that your current system is just fine.”
Just fine, as it turns out, is rarely the whole story.
Schedule a demo and we will walk you through the platform in the context of how your desk actually runs.
