Wematch.live hires Oh to lead seclending expansion
Wematch announced the appointment of Alvin Oh as North American head of Securities Lending product. He will be based in the New York office and spearhead product development and strategy, with a focus on expanding the platform’s capabilities, enhancing client experiences, and strengthening its position in the market.
Oh joins Wematch with a background in product management within fintech and securities lending. Most recently, he served as director of Product at Axoni, where he led the delivery of B2B SaaS solutions for corporate bond primary issuance. Before Axoni, he spent nearly a decade at EquiLend, where he contributed to trading product strategy and development.
Edward Hochstadter, CEO of Wematch and head of SBL Sales & Coverage for North America, said in a statement: “Alvin’s depth of experience in securities lending and his track record in product strategy and innovation make him the perfect fit to lead our North American Securities Lending Product.”
Joe Parascandolo, director of Securities Lending Sales & Coverage for North America at Wematch, said in a statement: “We’re excited to have Alvin on our team. His expertise will be instrumental in supporting and growing our US Securities Lending business, and I look forward to working with him to further strengthen our market presence.”
Oh said in a statement: “With the dynamic product suite Wematch has developed, I look forward to driving innovation and providing our clients with enhanced solutions that address their evolving needs.”
DTCC appoints Gibbons as HR chief
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced the appointment of Andrea Gibbons as managing director and chief human resources officer. She will join the DTCC Executive Committee and report to Frank La Salla, DTCC’s president, CEO and director. She replaces Anthony Portannese, who will serve as a strategic advisor to La Salla, until he retires at the end of the year.
Gibbons has served as a key member of DTCC’s HR leadership team for the past decade, where she consistently demonstrated the qualities of an enterprise leader and brought experience and a deep understanding of the firm’s organizational culture and values.
In her new role, Gibbons leads DTCC’s human capital strategy, driving initiatives that foster a positive workplace culture, enhance employee engagement, and support the company’s strategic goals. This includes oversight of recruitment, retention, compensation, employee wellness and benefits, performance management, corporate social responsibility, organizational design and culture, and DEI initiatives, as well as global HR policies. Prior to her role at DTCC, Gibbons held HR-related positions at Omgeo (now part of DTCC), Gen3 Partners and Thomson Financial.
La Salla said in a statement: “Andrea shares our vision of DTCC serving as a strategic partner to our clients and brings deep subject matter knowledge to propel our teams to achieve our business objectives at a time of great industry change and evolution. I look forward to Andrea’s ideas and collaboration as we further strengthen DTCC’s ability to advance the industry.”
Gibbons said in a statement: “I look forward to partnering with my colleagues across the firm to achieve our vision to lead the advancement of the global financial markets as the most influential, strategic and tech-focused partner to the industry.”
Euroclear announces senior leadership appointments
Euroclear announced two leadership changes towards its strategy in Asia. Philippe Laurensy has been named CEO of Euroclear’s Asia Pacific (APAC) markets. In this role, he will be responsible for designing and implementing the company’s Asian strategy with the objective of seizing new growth opportunities in the region and reports to Euroclear’s CEO Valérie Urbain.
With over 35 years of experience at Euroclear, most recently as head of Product, Strategy & Innovation for the Euroclear group, Laurensy’s extensive knowledge of Euroclear’s portfolio, strategy and client base will be key benefit in his new role. He has previously led Euroclear’s Commercial division, overseeing sales, marketing and relationships with customers across the group.
Isabelle Delorme will succeed Laurensy as head of Product Strategy & Innovation. Delorme joined in 2019 as chief business officer of Euroclear ESES. Most recently, she led product expansion for clients across corporate and government issuers and investment funds. Among her notable projects are the launch of the new shareholder identification product, central bank digital currency initiative and the recent launch of the link with South Korea making government debt Euroclearable. She will report to chief business officer Sébastien Danloy.
In addition, Euroclear ESES CSDs (Euroclear France, Euroclear Belgium and Euroclear Nederland) announced the appointment of Geert Desmedt as CEO. He has over 25 years’ experience within Euroclear Group, including a number of senior positions including head of Operational Risk, and head of Operations and Client Service Asia.
Most recently, he served as co-CEO of Euroclear’s global fund distribution platform, MFEX, which was acquired by Euroclear in 2021. In this role, he was instrumental in integrating MFEX into the Euroclear FundsPlace platform. Desmedt succeeds Guillaume Eliet who has led ESES since 2021 and will now assume the role of chief risk officer for Euroclear Group.
PanAgora promotes Mussalli to global CIO
George Mussalli announced on Linked In that he has been promoted to global chief investment officer (CIO) at Panagora and will join the Board of Directors. He’s been at the asset manager for over 20 years, most recently in the role of CIO and head of Equity Research. Previously he’s held portfolio manager and analyst roles at Putnam Investments and John Hancock.
Fernandes becomes State Street’s global digital lead
Vanessa Fernandes announced that she’s been hired as global head of Digital Solutions at State Street. Prior to this appointment she worked in a variety of roles, including BNY Mellon for digital adoption and customer engagement and Itau Digital Assets, where she was responsible for the design, build and implementation of the token as a service and custody platform.
Clear Street’s Pento takes executive role at White Bay
Clear Street announced that co-founder and CEO Chris Pento will assume an executive and partner role at White Bay, the family office of co-founder Uriel Cohen at end-2024, when he will depart his CEO role at Clear Street and president Ed Tilly takes over. Pento will remain on the Board of Directors.
Pento said in a statement: “The blend of tech and finance talent at Clear Street has allowed us to build horizontally scalable technology, disencumbered from decades-old infrastructure, integrated with the best capital markets teams on the street. Our product and service model is second to none, and our progress rolling out new technology solutions like Studio, our all-in-one portfolio management system, and service offerings like equity research and investment banking, has only accelerated.
“We’ve successfully scaled the business and generated significant revenue, all while developing a product suite tailored to the complexities of today’s markets. This is the right moment to step away from my day to day operational role so that I have more time to partner with Uri on our next round of opportunities. We have every confidence in Ed to continue the successes we’ve had and to take us to new heights. I’m excited to continue advising and consulting Clear Street through my role on the Board.”
Cohen said in a statement: “Chris has been an exceptional partner and CEO at Clear Street, where his innovative thinking, determination and leadership drove our success. I’m looking forward to welcoming Chris to the White Bay team.”
Tilly said in a statement: “In a landscape dominated by legacy players, Chris had the vision to combine a cloud-native tech platform with non-bank prime-brokerage and a relentless customer-centric focus. That’s a winning combination that we are repeating and scaling across markets, client types and geographies.”
Wurster to become Charles Schwab’s CEO as Bettinger retires
Charles Schwab announced that Walt Bettinger will retire as CEO by the end of the year. Rick Wurster, president of Schwab since 2021, will be named President and CEO and will join the Schwab Board of Directors. Bettinger will continue to serve as executive co-chair of the Board of Directors, along with founder Charles Schwab.
Schwab said in a statement: “Walt’s successful tenure as CEO saw the most significant growth in the company’s history in terms of clients, assets, revenue, profits, and market capitalization. He has earned the right to determine the timing of his retirement as CEO, and I am delighted that he will continue to serve as executive co-chairman of the Board of Directors with me. Moving forward, Rick Wurster is ideally prepared to assume the duties as our next CEO. He possesses all the attributes to be a successful CEO, and he has the full confidence and support of myself and the Board. This next step in our long-term succession plan ensures continuity for our clients, employees, and stockholders.”
Wurster said in a statement: “I am fortunate to continue to work with Walt in my new role and am humbled by the confidence that Walt, Chuck, the Schwab Board of Directors, and our dedicated employees have placed in me. My belief in our long-term ‘Through Clients’ Eyes’ strategy will continue to guide Schwab in the coming years.”
BoC extends Vincent’s term and seeks additional external deputy governor
The Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada (BoC) has initiated a recruitment process to fill a new external deputy governor position. The Bank engages external deputy governors to bring a diversity of views and an outside perspective to its monetary policy deliberations and financial stability assessment. This new position will bring the Bank’s Governing Council from six to seven members.
“The creation of the Bank’s first external deputy governor role in 2023, and the subsequent appointment of Nicolas Vincent in that role, demonstrated the value of including an external point of view in the conduct of monetary policy,” said Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, in a statement. “As the Bank navigates an increasingly complex and fast-changing economy, the creation of a second external Governing Council role will add further perspective and bring different skills and experiences to the table.”
“The Bank welcomes a variety of experiences, viewpoints and backgrounds in decision-making,” said Claire Kennedy, lead independent director, in a statement. “We look forward to recruiting an outstanding candidate who will provide additional perspectives to the work of the Bank’s Governing Council.”
The Bank is also announcing that the term of external deputy governor Nicolas Vincent has been extended to March 2026, bringing it to 3 years. Deputy governor Vincent, who joined the Bank’s Governing Council on March 13, 2023, will continue to work with the Bank of Canada in a part-time capacity and will maintain his affiliation with HEC Montréal.
US SEC announces Wadhwa as acting Enforcement director as Grewal departs
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Gurbir Grewal, director of the Division of Enforcement, will depart the agency, when Sanjay Wadhwa, the division’s deputy director, will serve as acting director, and Sam Waldon, the division’s chief counsel, will serve as acting deputy director.
Wadhwa has served as deputy director since August 2021. During his tenure, he worked closely alongside Grewal to execute the SEC’s Enforcement agenda and to further the agency’s mission to protect investors. Previously, Wadhwa was the senior associate director of the Division of Enforcement in the New York Regional Office (NYRO), deputy chief of the Market Abuse Unit, and assistant director in NYRO.
Gary Gensler, SEC chair, said in a statement: “I’m pleased that Sanjay Wadhwa has said yes to taking on the acting director role. He has served as part of a remarkable leadership team, along with Gurbir, as deputy director and has been with the agency for more than two decades. He has shown strong leadership, is widely respected among his colleagues, and has provided invaluable counsel to the Commission.”
Grewal said in a statement: “From recalibrating penalties and remedies to confronting emerging risks to holding issuers, insiders, and gatekeepers accountable, I am incredibly proud of all that we’ve accomplished as a Division during my tenure. I am grateful to chair Gensler not just for the opportunity to lead the division, but also for his unwavering commitment to investor protection and support of a robust enforcement program.”