Markets Media spoke with Erika Bianco, Head of Marketing, EMEA & APAC for MarketAxess, who won Excellence in Marketing & Communications at the 2025 Women in Finance Asia Awards.

What advice would you give to someone looking to build a long-term career in marketing or communications in the financial world?

Marketing and communications in financial services is constantly evolving and the biggest challenge is the audience. Behaviours, expectations and channels change fast, so adaptability is essential. Deep product knowledge really matters. You need to understand complex products in detail, then zoom out and translate that complexity into clear, relevant messages. In APAC especially, success is often built on relationships. Face-to-face engagement, cultural awareness and time spent with clients are critical — you can’t market effectively from behind a desk. Finally, the challenge is staying creative in a technical, regulated environment. The best marketers balance rigour with imagination to cut through and build trust.

What’s one campaign or initiative you’re especially proud of — and why?

One initiative I’m especially proud of is the launch of our India product, the first electronic workflow for Indian Government Bond (IGB) trading. It was a highly complex, cross-functional effort delivered in close partnership with local regulators. Navigating the technical, regulatory and cultural nuances — and shaping clear, credible messaging around them — made the launch particularly rewarding and a meaningful milestone for the business.

That India launch went on to inspire another initiative I’m deeply proud of: our Global Emerging Markets Charity Trading Day, delivered in partnership with Empower. We deliberately aligned the initiative with India, selecting the Institute of Social Studies Trust as our charity partner. MarketAxess committed to donate 10% or more of the day’s revenue, ultimately exceeding that target with a contribution of over 15%. It was a powerful way to demonstrate that our commitment to the Indian market extends beyond trading, to supporting the communities we serve.

You’re also a mentor to emerging communicators. What’s one piece of guidance you try to pass on?

The one piece of guidance I always share is to stay curious and keep asking questions. Marketing isn’t a support function sitting on the side, it’s a core part of the business. To be a great marketer, you need to think like a businessperson first. That means developing a deep understanding of the product and the audience, how the business is run, striving for excellence, and being ready to pivot as conditions change. The strongest communicators are the ones who connect insight with impact. And as you grow into leadership, your job is to create the conditions for others to do their best work. Give clarity of purpose, set high standards, and remove friction so your team feels safe, seen, and stretched. When people have freedom within a framework, creativity becomes repeatable and impact inevitable.

How do you encourage creativity and original thinking within your team or projects?

I encourage creativity by pushing the team to constantly look beyond our own sector. There’s a lot to learn from what others are doing well but some of the best ideas come from places completely unrelated to financial services.

Art, travel and exposure to different cultures have inspired some of the strongest ideas in my own career. Stepping outside the industry bubble helps you see problems differently and often that’s where original thinking really comes from.

How do you stay motivated during especially busy or high-pressure periods?

I stay motivated because I genuinely love what I do and feel a strong sense of responsibility to my team. As a leader, and as a qualified performance coach, I hold myself to the standard of showing up with my best self, even during the most challenging periods. Part of my approach is prioritising mental and physical wellbeing: staying healthy, focused, and clear on what truly needs to get done versus what’s just noise. This isn’t just for me, it’s also central to my mission of helping others, especially women, build confidence and resilience so they can succeed both personally and professionally. Last but not least, knowing I can rely on a strong, supportive team day to day gives me the energy and perspective to navigate high-pressure periods confidently, with the assurance that I have the right people around me to achieve any goal.

What does success in marketing and communications mean to you today — and how do you see the role evolving in the next decade?

Success today is about impact, not output. It’s measured by trust earned, decisions influenced, and outcomes delivered, not by the number of campaigns launched. In APAC, that means combining global consistency with local nuance and cultural intelligence. In the next decade, AI will transform how we work. Much of the execution will be automated, from content generation to campaign optimization, freeing us to focus on what truly matters: data-driven storytelling. The real value won’t come from producing more; it will come from interpreting insights, shaping narratives, and connecting them to human emotion. Marketers who can combine analytics with creativity will lead the way. Technology will scale the “how,” but judgment, empathy, and imagination will define the “why.”