Belio.co | Safeguarding Your Business in the Digital Age

In a digital ecosystem where threats evolve faster than they can be mapped, Belio stands as a vanguard for startups and SMEs. As a founder and the chief strategist, I've nurtured Belio to not just answer the "how" of cybersecurity but also the "why," instilling a proactive rather than reactive culture.

Our Vision:

Tailored Cybersecurity: 
Engineering bespoke vCISO services and Security Gap Assessments to build cyber resilience that's not one-size-fits-all.

Strategic Risk Management: 
Weaving compliance and risk management into the DNA of businesses, so they thrive secure and unencumbered.

Holistic Cyber Health: 
Developing strategies that serve as the cornerstone of trust between our clients and their customers.

Join us to sculpt a future where cybersecurity is a silent promise — delivered with conviction, crafted with intelligence.

CISO  | Founder

PROXIMA ICS

As the CEO and CISO at Proxima ICS, I wear multiple hats, leading both the business and information security fronts. With over 20 years of experience in IT Governance and Risk Management, I've been pivotal in shaping Proxima's growth and service offerings, particularly in the realms of information security and IT governance.

🔑 Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership: Developed and executed overarching business strategies, focusing on business development, sales, and marketing.
Holistic CISO Services: Acted as CISO, Virtual CISO, and Interim CISO for a diversified portfolio of clients in banking, finance, and e-commerce sectors.
Customized Security Roadmaps: Created tailored information security strategies, risk assessments, and compliance roadmaps.
Team and Stakeholder Management: Orchestrated team performance improvements, coaching, and managed high-level stakeholder relationships.
Compliance and Certification: Assisted clients in achieving and maintaining compliance with international standards such as GDPR, ISO 27001, and NIST.


🌟 Notable Achievements:

Business Strategy: Drove end-to-end business strategy, positioning Proxima ICS as a leader in the information security domain.
Innovation: Accelerated DevOps processes, reducing time-to-production from one year to just 12 weeks.
Performance Culture: Instilled a culture of excellence, ensuring timely and budget-friendly project completion.


📊 Selected Projects:

Large International Bank: As a Security Wizard, I provided expertise in cloud architecture and threat modeling, significantly improving DevOps compliance with Microsoft Azure best practices.
Pharmaceutical Company: As an Interim CISO, I oversaw SOX compliance and third-party risk management, improving audit outcomes by 25%.
My dual role allows me to align complex security strategies seamlessly with business objectives, reinforcing Proxima ICS's commitment to providing a secure, compliant, and efficient operational landscape for our clients.

CEO/ CISO/ virtual CISO/ Interim CISO

Novartis

As Head of IGM GIS at Novartis, I led a team of up to 20 professionals, providing governance and information security oversight for the design, development, and operation of IT services, processes, and technologies across the organization. My leadership and expertise in information security and service delivery contributed significantly to the growth and success of the company's IT services.

Key Responsibilities:

* Established and managed a team of information security professionals, driving the design and implementation of the Information Security Strategy.
* Led major Information and IT Security-related projects, ensuring alignment with risk and compliance management requirements.
* Oversaw governance in GIS, including Process Lifecycle Management, Roles and Responsibilities, and the overall roles RACI matrix and Job Profiles updating initiative.
* Acted as a member of Steering Committees, representing GIS and providing insights in the areas of Information Security, Information Governance, and IT Service Management.

Key Achievements:

* Team establishment and growth: As Deputy IT HUB Head, I contributed to the establishment of the Prague IT HUB, which grew from 3 to 150 employees within 18 months. Successfully established a team of 20 IGM professionals in Prague.
* Leadership and Team Management: Managed geographically and culturally diverse teams located in the US, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
* Key Strategic Projects Management: Directed several key strategic global projects in the areas of Information Security, Governance, and Compliance, ensuring that the organization's security posture remained strong and up-to-date.

Head of Information Governance and Management (IGM) - Global Infrastructure Services (GIS)

T-Systems

As the ITSM Manager and Governance Officer at T-Systems, I was responsible for the overall leadership, management, and compliance of ISO 20000 certification, involving over 700 IT professionals. I coordinated the implementation of best practices for IT processes in line with ISO 20000, ITIL, and other relevant standards while ensuring compliance with rules set by Deutsche Telekom and T-Systems International.

Key Responsibilities:

* Overall responsibility for ISO 20000 certification process, including process analysis, mapping, optimization, and ownership of process models.
* Management of the PDCA Cycle for processes and systems connected with ISO 20000, ensuring compliance with the standard.
* Coordination and support of process owners, integrating process management tools with other management systems used in T-Systems.
* Ensured alignment with various ISO standards, including ISO 27000 (Information Security Management) to maintain a strong security posture.

Key Projects and Achievements:
*Internal audits of ISO 9000, ISO 20000, ISO 27000, ISO 14000, and ISO 18000 - Conducted internal audits to identify nonconformities and areas of improvement, ensuring compliance and maintaining certifications.
*Act4Service - Acted as one of the main local project managers for an internal transformation project, involving organizational structure, job roles, processes, and financial structures, based on blueprints provided by international project management.
*Continual service improvement process - Oversaw improvement processes in the ISO 20000 area, including Quality Assurance, by running workshops, Process Improvement Team meetings, and monitoring and setting targets and KPIs.
* E-learning pilot project - Developed and implemented an e-learning platform for internal employee training, contributing to improved security awareness and skills development.

ITSM Manager (ISO 20000) and Governance Officer

Compagnie Financière Tradition

As the Group IT Auditor for Compagnie Financière Tradition, one of the world's largest interdealer brokers in OTC financial and commodity-related products, I played a pivotal role in establishing and maintaining a strong IT audit and risk management framework for the organization. Reporting directly to the Global Head of Audit and Compliance, my role required a high level of seniority, comprehensive experience, and the ability to work collaboratively with various stakeholders across the organization.

Key Responsibilities:
* Developing and implementing risk-based IT audit strategies and plans for the entire Tradition Group, consisting of approximately 90 financial companies and subsidiaries, which involved evaluating the effectiveness of IT controls and identifying opportunities for improvement.
* Performing integrated and IT audits, as well as special assignments in major financial centers, including Paris, London, New York, and other key offices of the Tradition Group, focusing on key areas such as information security, data privacy, and IT governance.
* Collaborating with non-IT audit teams, providing insights and expertise in IT-related risks and controls, and contributing to the overall improvement of the organization's risk management and compliance posture.
* Identifying emerging technology risks and ensuring that the IT audit strategy remained responsive to the evolving risk landscape.
* Communicating audit findings and recommendations to senior management and relevant stakeholders, ensuring that remediation actions were properly tracked and effectively implemented.

My experience in managing IT audit processes and working within a highly regulated industry provides me with a strong foundation in risk management, compliance, and information security. This role has also enabled me to develop strong communication and leadership abilities along with a deep understanding of the complex interplay between technology, business, and regulatory requirements.

Group IT Auditor

Deloitte

Managed numerous audit engagements, performing a number high-level and detailed reviews of all aspects of IT risk and controls including Information Security, IT Operations, Project Management, IT Strategy and Contingency arrangements for key clients.  

Managed and coordinated number of international teams performing audit work for clients located in several countries.  Engagements involved understanding critical processes, identification of risks and testing controls, development of recommendations for clients in UK, USA, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Hong Kong and Japan.  

Participated in three months long internal audit co-sourcing project for a major global oil company, providing assurance around the processes in place over large (Billion USD) SAP deployment project - to provide comfort over the quality, reliability and repeatability of future SAP implementations. 

Managed an EU Legislation compliance engagement in airline tickets booking industry.

Detailed information will be provided upon request.

Manager - Enterprise Risk Services

KPMG

In RAS - IRM focused on projects on security reviews and risk and process analyses of the IT environment of KPMG’s audit clients and provided advisory in all areas of IT security.  Apart from other services, primarily dealt with the following:

Business Continuity Management/ Disaster Recovery Planning – risk and vulnerabilities analysis, BIA analysis, recovery strategies, BCP/DRP plan development and testing, documentation of BCP/DRP plan administration procedures and processes.

IT consulting, including risk analysis, BPA - Business Process Analysis, security reviews, creation of policies and procedures and project management.

Financial Audit Support – this consists mostly of documenting IT controls as part of financial audit engagements.

SOX advisory projects, including the identification, documentation and testing of key business process and general IT controls for several companies in UK and Czech Republic.

Detailed information will be provided upon request.

Assistant Manager in Risk Advisory Services (RAS) - Information Risk Management (IRM) department

Ernst & Young

Specialization in IS/ IT Security Architecture, Information Security and Risk Management and ERP Security/Process Integrity; participation in various Audit and Internal Audit projects; involvement in Business Risk Services projects (specialized audits, Due Diligence).

Detailed information will be provided upon request.

Consultant in Technology and Security Risk Services (TSRS)

🔒 Follow for Daily Insights on Cybersecurity

Hi, I am Petr.

I help businesses elevate their security posture and achieve compliance.

My goal is straightforward: to deliver Best Value Cybersecurity Strategies. Specifically, I focus on providing resource-efficient and effective security solutions that offer the best return on investment.

Having collaborated with industry leaders like Deloitte and KPMG, I've shaped robust security strategies across sectors such as banking, finance, and pharmaceuticals.

I want to bring this expertise to you.

Being an IT Auditor for many years, I can help you understand how to prepare for and pass audits for ITGC, ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, and others.

I assist with compliance requirements and needs. Compliance is viewed as either an advantage or burden by many businesses. Failing to leverage compliance misses out on a great opportunity to create a lasting culture of security that will grow with your business.

As the founder of Belio, I offer tailored solutions like vCISO services and Security Gap Assessments, designed to establish trust and enhance security. My approach goes beyond threat mitigation; it aligns security strategies with your core business objectives, ensuring long-term resilience.

I bring a holistic perspective to the role of a CISO, encompassing governance, compliance, risk management, and incident response.

Feel free to reach out! 

📞 +31 6 1901 2448
✉ Or share your visions and challenges with me via peter@belio.co

I'm always open to discussing cybersecurity and compliance goals, challenges, strategies, and innovations.

Petr C.

Head of User Acquisition at NAGA (Fintech, Forex, CFD, Stocks, Crypto, BNPL, Prop)

If you're in fintech, you know that acquiring high-quality customers is tougher than ever. Regulation changes, rising ad costs, and saturated markets make it difficult to scale profitably. But these challenges are exactly what keeps me hooked. 

Over the past 8 years, I’ve worked with big fintech players, including NAGA Group, Zilch (a unicorn) and others, where I: 

▪️ Managed $3M+ ad budgets per month across multiple channels.
▪️ Ran campaigns in 120+ countries, adapting to different regulations and compliance restrictions.
▪️ Built 3 user acquisition teams from scratch, including one at Zilch, where the marketing team alone had 150+ people.

In addition to that, I’ve consulted or helped launch and optimize paid ads channels for 200+ companies across 6 sectors - fintech, forex, crypto, SaaS, B2B services, and eCommerce.

But beyond the numbers, what really matters to me are results and impact. Seeing a campaign take off, improving traffic quality, generating more (and better) leads - that’s what keeps me going.

If you're looking for strategic guidance on paid acquisition, need help troubleshooting performance issues, or want an expert to audit and refine your campaigns, let’s connect here or through an email – stanislav@galandzovsky.pro

🇺🇦 Stanislav Galandzovskyi, PhD

Heading to Dubai for iFX EXPO 2026 ✈️

February 10–12 at the World Trade Centre. Looking forward to connecting with colleagues and industry peers from brokers, prop firms, and fintech companies across the region.

MENA continues to be one of the most dynamic markets in our space, but what makes it particularly interesting is just how localized the approach needs to be. What works in the UAE doesn't automatically translate to Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Payment methods, messaging, trust signals, and even channel performance vary significantly across the region.

At the expo, I'm looking forward to discussions around:

→ User acquisition strategies that scale across emerging vs. mature markets
→ How prop firms are adapting their positioning and offers for different audiences
→ What's stopped working in paid traffic (and what's replacing it)

If you'll be there, let's connect and maybe have a quick coffee. Drop me a message and if you have a booth, share the number so I can stop by.

See you in Dubai 👋

Stanislav Galandzovskyi

Acquisition & Growth Expert in Fintech (Forex, Prop Firms, Crypto, SaaS, B2B Services) • Managed $3M+ monthly ad spend & ran paid ads in 120 countries

My podcast episode with Dealers Connect is live 🎙️

One topic we discussed was about 90% promo codes and how they're quietly killing prop firms.

When prop firms launch, they're competing against established players with brand recognition and customer bases. The easy solution is to go aggressive with discounts – 70%, 80%, even 90% off first challenges.

The strategy appears to work initially. But around month 3 or 4, the pattern becomes clear: these customers aren't evaluating which firm offers the best product. They're hunting for the next discount code, moving from one 90% deal to another. 

Once you anchor your brand this way, there's no path back – you've trained an audience that will never accept normal pricing. The result is zero repeat purchases, weak lifetime value, and a brand identity built entirely around being the cheapest option.

Before launching extreme discount strategies, take a hard look at your retention metrics and LTV calculations. The customers who only buy on deep discounts rarely develop loyalty to your platform. 

We covered this – and much more – in the full episode, including: regional market breakdowns, regulation impact and even 5 practical tips for new prop firms & brokers.

Big thanks to Roman Garanin and Ievgen Iugrinov for the thoughtful conversation and great questions.

One broker registered over 600 domains just to protect their brand from typosquatters.
Sounds like an extreme measure, but definitely an effective one.

I recently shared insights for a Finance Magnates article about the industrial scale of typosquatting in the financial sector – a problem many brokers still underestimate.

When someone bids on your brand, your real site may not even appear on the first screen of search results. Scammers hijack not only organic traffic – they steal your paid traffic, diverting advertising budgets into fraudulent funnels.

The biggest mistake is reacting only after an incident has already happened. Monitoring brand mentions and cloned pages needs to be continuous. Search monitoring platforms often reveal impersonation attempts before domains even go live.

But it's just one of the things you can do to protect your brand. You can find out more in the full article (link in the comments).

70% of landing page traffic comes from mobile devices, but most prop firms still don't optimize loading speed and mobile versions. The result is clear: traders leave before they even see the offer.

Together with Maryna Volokhova, we broke down the key mistakes that cause prop firms to lose paid traffic on their landing pages – from technical issues to trust and positioning problems.

More insights in the full article → link in the comments.

Big thanks to Maryna for the collaboration and to Financial Tech Times for publishing the piece.

Prop firms can break even in 6 months in the US, but in just 1 month in India. The difference in starting budgets and ROAS between markets is massive.

I recently contributed insights to a Finance Magnates article by Arnab Shome, breaking down user acquisition economics for prop firms across different regions:

→ US – a mature market with high competition. Starting monthly budget $5,000–$10,000+, break-even in 3–6 months, average ROAS up to 3x (for established brands – up to 4x)

→ Latin America – one of the most efficient regions globally. Break-even in 1–2 months, monthly budget $1,000–$2,000 per country. Brazil shows ROAS up to 10x at peak

→ South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) – break-even often happens immediately or within the first month. Working ROAS 2–4x, peak can reach 12x

→ Europe – positive ROAS in 2–4 months, faster in lower-competition markets. UK requires 3–6 months due to high competition and regulatory constraints

Big markets bring volume, but emerging markets often show better unit economics.

Full article with regional breakdown, budgets, and ROAS → link in the comments.

Classic Forex-only prop firms are still growing – but the market's getting crowded. Right now, we're seeing a clear trend: more and more firms are moving beyond "pure Forex" and adding Crypto and Futures to their offering.

This is a strategic shift to a model where companies stop competing only with each other – and start capturing three audiences simultaneously: traditional Forex traders, the crypto community, and futures traders.

As a result, we get three revenue streams, three channels, and a much more resilient business model. Yet, there's a high risk of making a big mistake: trying to push all three markets equally in every region. Success actually depends on three factors:

A) Market Infrastructure & Habit
It's about where the attention ecosystem already exists.
Where FX is historically strong (UK, MENA), there's already a content flywheel: education, influencers, habits. Where futures culture dominates (USA) – that positioning sounds more legitimate. Where crypto went mainstream (LatAm, Asia) – attention is cheaper, but trust is more volatile.
In practice, you're competing for attention that's already formed around specific instruments in each region.

B) Ad Policies
Prop firms operate in an unregulated space, but advertising platforms still treat your offering differently based on what you're promoting and where.
As a consequence, you can have the exact same prop firm model but spend $50 per client in one geo and $200 in another – simply due to how platforms categorize your challenge (trading education vs financial service) and local policy enforcement.
Example: In the US, "futures evaluation program" often faces less platform friction than "forex prop challenge" due to market perception and how platforms interpret these offerings.

C) Payments, Trust & Local Friction
Different regions run on different payment rails: LatAm needs Pix/Boleto, India needs UPI, and Africa needs mobile money. International cards carry higher chargeback rates in some geos. And in certain countries, the term "prop firm" itself has become toxic due to scam history – forcing you to completely redesign creative and funnels (not "prop firm challenge" but "funded trader evaluation").

Companies that get this are lowering CAC and increasing LTV because they stop fighting regional context. Instead, they use it as leverage.

If you found this helpful, let me know, and we'll talk about which specific prop firm type performs in concrete regions.

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🇺🇦 Stanislav Galandzovskyi, PhD

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