Vanguard announces appointment of Salim Ramji as new CEO
Vanguard announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Salim Ramji as the new chief executive officer and Board member. Ramji succeeds Tim Buckley, who will retire and step down as chair and CEO.
Ramji is a senior financial services executive with more than 25 years of experience in investments, capital markets and wealth management, including a decade as a senior leader at BlackRock. Most recently, Ramji was global head of iShares & Index Investing, where he was responsible for managing a majority of the firm’s client assets and evolving the iShares platform to provide an even broader set of innovative low-cost products for investors globally.
Mark Loughridge, lead independent director, said in a statement: “We have significant opportunities for growth ahead, including how technology and the client experience can drive solutions and extend the benefits of wealth management to more investors. Salim is an exceptional leader who is aligned with Vanguard’s mission-driven culture, making him the ideal candidate.”
Ramji said in a statement: “The current investor landscape is changing, and that presents opportunities for Vanguard to further its mission of giving people the best chance for investment success, which is more relevant today than at any time in the firm’s five-decade history. My focus will be to mobilize Vanguard to meet the moment while staying true to that core purpose – remaining the trusted firm that takes a stand for all investors.”
Tim Buckley said in a statement: “I have worked with Salim on the Executive Committee of the Investment Company Institute. He cares about advancing the interests of individual investors, has a strong fiduciary ethos, and thinks strategically about solutions. Salim understands our organization’s deep sense of purpose and commitment to put clients first, which is a hallmark of Vanguard’s leadership team and culture.”
In addition, Greg Davis, president and chief investment officer, will be appointed to Vanguard’s Board of Directors and have expanded responsibility for regulatory and government affairs, Loughridge will be appointed nonexecutive chair, and John Murphy, president and chief financial officer of The Coca-Cola Company, will be appointed to the Board of Directors of Vanguard.
Global head of Market Risk for FI O’Sullivan leaves Morgan Stanley
Global Head of Market Risk for Fixed Income, Private Equity, Investment Management, Wealth Management and US Banks at Morgan Stanley, Lon O’Sullivan, announced he is leaving the firm after 20 years. Prior to Morgan Stanley, O’Sullivan was an associate at Deutsche Bank among his roles.
“Today, I signed off for the last time as a proud employee of Morgan Stanley,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “Over the last 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of working with so many talented individuals across MS. I will forever be grateful for the (sometimes hard) lessons learned, the opportunities seized and the problems we’ve collaborated on to solve…I will announce my exciting next chapter towards the end of July when I officially join my new Firm.”
Citi expands rates team with spate of appointments
Citi has made a number of hires for its global rates trading team.
- Courtenay Watson will join Citi as a managing director in London in August to cover the European Government Bond (EGB) Trading business. She joins from BNP Paribas, where she was head of Peripheral EGB Trading.
- Moussa Haidara, director, will join Citi in Paris from J.P. Morgan.
- Fiachra Harnett, director, joins Citi after serving as Morgan Stanley’s head of Sovereigns, Supranationals and Agencies (SSA) Trading in London.
- Michele Beretta, VP, is joining Citi’s EGB team from Deutsche Bank.
- Yun Zhou is joining Citi in New York from Brevan Howard as a managing director in interest rate options trading.
DBS appoints veteran technologist Eugene Huang as CIO
Singapore-headquartered Asian bank DBS announced that Eugene Huang will be joining the bank as chief information officer (CIO) as well as member of the DBS Group Executive Committee, reporting to CEO Piyush Gupta.
A veteran with over 36 years of technology and banking experience, Huang joins DBS from Ping An Group, where he led a team of 22,000 employees providing a full suite of IT offerings – including infrastructure, cybersecurity, middleware and customer-facing applications – to all of Ping An’s businesses. He was concurrently chair and CEO of Ping An Technology, the technology arm of Ping An Group, with P&L responsibilities.
Huang’s career has seen him work in multiple leading financial centres, and in both startups and multinational corporations. In the early part of his career, he spent nearly 10 years in New York with Salomon Smith Barney and Credit Suisse First Boston. He was subsequently with Citigroup and HSBC. Prior to his latest role at Ping An Group, he was deputy general manager, chief technology officer and chief operating officer at OneConnect Financial Technology, where he played an integral role in the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2019.
Huang will take over the CIO role from Han Kwee Juan, who has been double-hatting as DBS acting CIO and Singapore Country head and will now return full-time to the latter.
Piyush Gupta, DBS CEO, said in a statement: “Eugene possesses a rare blend of deep business experience and technology expertise – as well as international exposure – which will serve DBS well as we continue to enhance our system resiliency while innovating for the future. His immediate focus will be to build on the work the bank has done since last year to strengthen our technology resiliency.”
Martin Jetter confirmed as chair of Deutsche Börse supervisory board
The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG confirmed Martin Jetter as chair of the Supervisory Board. Jetter has held the chair role since 2020 and has been a member of the board since 2018.
In addition, the shareholders of Deutsche Börse AG elected new shareholder representatives. New to the board is Sigrid Kozmiensky. She succeeds Michael Rüdiger, who did not stand for re-election. Sigrid Kozmiensky was a member of the Executive Board and chief risk officer of ING-DiBa AG. Previously, she held leadership positions at the European Central Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers, among others.
ICMA announces new co-head structure for its Market Practice and Regulatory Policy team
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) announced that Andy Hill and Natalie Westerbarkey will co-head ICMA’s Market Practice and Regulatory Policy (MPRP) team. Hill will lead ICMA’s work on Market Practice and Westerbarkey will lead on Public Policy and Advocacy.
Hill is currently senior director and head of MPRP, with primary responsibility for the work on secondary markets and repo and collateral. He has authored numerous reports on bond and repo market structure and development, with a particular focus on regulatory, technological, and economic impacts on market liquidity and resilience. Prior to joining ICMA in 2014, Andy was a repo and money market trader for 18 years, 10 years of which he was an executive director at Goldman Sachs.
Westerbarkey brings extensive buyside, sellside and cross-regional experience policy experience to ICMA with around 25 years of financial services industry experience. She was most recently with Fidelity where she headed EU Public Policy since 2017 and prior to that worked at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Citigroup in broader policy roles.
Hill and Westerbarkey will work closely together to jointly lead and maximize the impact of the MPRP team given the close interrelationship between their areas of primary responsibility. Other structural elements of MPRP including the existing configuration of the committees and staff responsibilities will remain unchanged. They will be members of ICMA’s Executive Committee and report directly to the chief exec, Bryan Pascoe.
Erik Thedéen appointed as chair of BCBS
The Basel Committee’s oversight body, Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), announced that Erik Thedéen, governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, is appointed chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). He succeeds Pablo Hernández de Cos, who has chaired the Committee since March 2019. The Chair is appointed for a term of three years that can be renewed once.
“The GHOS thanks Pablo Hernández de Cos for his inspired chairmanship of the Basel Committee over the past five years. The Committee’s prompt and effective responses to the series of shocks affecting the financial system over the past few years, including the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical developments and last year’s banking turmoil, are testimony to Pablo’s outstanding leadership. Under Pablo’s guidance, the Committee also completed a strategic review, ensuring the Committee is in a strong position to anticipate emerging risks and vulnerabilities to the banking system and to strengthen supervision. The GHOS welcomes Erik as the new chair and looks forward to working with him and the Committee to build on its successes,” said Tiff Macklem, GHOS chair and governor of the Bank of Canada, in a statement.
“As the global standard setter for bank regulation and supervision, it is important that the Committee continues to meet its mandate of strengthening the regulation, supervision and practices of banks worldwide with the purpose of enhancing financial stability,” said Thedéen.
CNB’s Vojtěch Belling reappointed vice chair of ESMA
The Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has reappointed Vojtěch Belling as its vice chair. Belling, who is the executive director of the Financial Market Regulation and International Cooperation Department of the Czech National Bank (CNB), will serve a further two-and-a-half-year term. He was originally appointed to the role in November 2022.
Verena Ross, ESMA chair, said in a statement: “I have enjoyed working with Vojtěch both as vice chair and as a member of ESMA’s Board of Supervisors and look forward to continuing our close collaboration in the years ahead.”
Belling has been ED of the Financial Regulation and International Cooperation Department at the Czech National Bank, the integrated authority for financial market supervision in the Czech Republic, since 2018. Prior to that, he was director of the EU and International Affairs Division at the Czech National Bank. He is a member of the ESMA Board of Supervisors, a member of the International Relations Committee of the European Central Bank and an alternate member of the Economic and Financial Committee of the EU Council.
US SEC: Tina Diamantopoulos named Chicago regional director
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Tina Diamantopoulos has been named director of the Chicago regional office, the Commission’s second-largest.
Diamantopoulos is a 30-year veteran of the SEC and has held leadership roles in both the Division of Enforcement and the Division of Examinations. Since April 2022, she has served as the associate director for the regional broker-dealer examination program supervising teams that examine broker-dealers, exchanges, transfer agents, municipal advisors, funding portals and security-based swap dealers.
SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a statement: “Tina’s wide-ranging experience in the Chicago office will be an asset to the agency’s work. I also would like to thank Kay Pyszka and Vanessa Horton for agreeing in December to serve as acting do-directors of the office.”
Bloomberg: White House poised to nominate CFTC’s Johnson to Treasury role
The White House is poised to nominate Kristin Johnson, a CFTC commissioner, to fill a top role at the US Treasury Department overseeing banks, according to multiple people familiar with the matter speaking to Bloomberg.
The announcement is expected to be made public soon, according to the people who asked for anonymity to speak about the matter. The White House, Johnson and the CFTC declined to comment to Bloomberg on the nomination. Senate confirmation is no guarantee and could create a split at the CFTC, Bloomberg wrote.
Apex Group continues its global overhaul with new global head of Operational Transformation
Apex Group has appointed a new global head of Operational Transformation. Ken Fullerton will lead the Operational Delivery and Improvement team focusing on client-driven technology and business process initiatives and improvements. He will also oversee the Global Service Centres. He will be based in New York.
Before joining Apex Group, Fullerton spent close to 20 years at SS&C GlobeOp. He most recently served as chief operating officer of the Fund Administration business and was responsible for all functional areas, from investor services, operations, and fund accounting to client relationship management and technology across the global organization, including the Americas, Europe, and APAC regions.
Christopher Mulhern, Group product and operations officer at Apex Group, said in a statement that Fullerton’s appointment represents one of the final steps in the restructuring of product/operations that began in January: “Establishing a clear focus and mandate on operational improvement sitting alongside business as usual activities is a critical component of the transformation effort and having Ken join to lead this team is a big win for Apex. We look for Ken to lead and drive execution of many technology and business process improvement initiatives that were established in Q1 of 2024.”