Christopher Smith joins Clear Street to build out futures clearing business
Clear Street announced that Christopher Smith, founder of ED&F Man Capital Markets, has been hired as CEO of Clear Street Futures. Smith has over 30 years’ experience in the capital markets sector, working with various exchanges and regulators as well as helping develop markets and industry standards.
“We’re confident that Chris is the right person to lead the growth of Clear Street’s futures clearing business. With his deep industry expertise and extensive connections, Chris will be an invaluable addition to our leadership bench,” Clear Street co-founder and CEO Chris Pento said in a statement.
As founder of ED&F Man Capital Markets, Smith built a successful futures clearing merchant from scratch to be the financial services subsidiary for ED&F Man group. The firm served customers ranging from high frequency traders and corporate customers to hedge funds and high-net-worth individuals in index, metals, energy, and agriculture.
“Clear Street’s plan to move into futures clearing signals its ambitions to provide a comprehensive offering in capital markets, and I look forward to helping achieve its goals,” Smith said in a statement.
In his new role, Smith will report to Pento and will oversee the development and execution of the firm’s futures clearing services. The announcement comes on the heels of the news that Clear Street intends to enter the futures clearing market with the acquisition of React Consulting Services and its proprietary, cloud-native futures clearing platform, BASIS.
CME Group taps Paul Houston for global head of FX products in business realignment
CME Group announced a realignment of its FX futures, options, cash and over-the-counter (OTC) FX businesses into a single unit led by Paul Houston, who has overseen CME Group’s futures and options business for seven years.
Under the new structure, Houston will serve as global head of FX Products and will be responsible for the company’s FX derivatives markets as well as its EBS cash markets business. Jeff Ward, Global Head of EBS, will be leaving CME Group in September.
Tim McCourt, senior managing director and head of Financial & OTC Products at CME Group, noted that Houston played a key role in expanding the FX futures and options business, which saw average daily volume increase by 24% to 985,000 contracts last year.
“With the adoption of a more integrated FX business model that can better operate across futures, options, cash and OTC markets, we will significantly expand trading opportunities for our clients, while also delivering increased efficiencies and an enhanced ability to introduce new products in the dynamic FX marketplace,” said McCourt in a statement. “We have been working to create tighter alignment among all of our FX businesses since CME Group purchased EBS through its acquisition of NEX in 2018. This new structure is the last step in that process and one that, we believe, will benefit our FX clients globally.”
Sharegain hires Reisa Asimovic as US general manager
Sharegain announced the appointment of Reisa Asimovic as US general manager based in the fintech’s New York office. She joins from an alternative data company, Earnest Analytics, where she most recently held the position of chief operating officer. Prior to this, Asimovic gained broad capital markets experience at US investment firm QVT Financial LP. Her appointment will accelerate Sharegain’s significant expansion in the US market.
Boaz Yaari, CEO and founder of Sharegain, said in a statement: “Originally from Kosovo, Reisa has fearlessly navigated personal challenges while trailblazing in the competitive world of capital markets, rising to prominent leadership roles.”
BNY Mellon Markets appoints Eoin Ellis as head of EMEA Liquidity Sales
BNY Mellon Markets announced that it has appointed Eoin Ellis as head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) liquidity sales. He will be based in London. Ellis has more than a decade of experience in the financial sector.
Cboe Clear Europe hires two new SFT product managers
CBOE Clear Europe hired two new product managers in the securities financing transaction (SFT) division, Brendan Johns and Jim Redhead. They will both report to Jan Treuren, product lead, SFT.
Johns joins the firm from Wematch.live where he was product manager for securities finance. He brings more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Redhead was previously securities strategy director at SWIFT before joining Cboe Clear Europe. Prior to this, Jim was a vice president at J.P. Morgan and also worked within business management at LCH. He brings more than a decade of financial industry experience to the role.
Tamika Bent joins CFTC as Chief Counsel
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Kristin Johnson announced that Tamika Bent has joined the executive staff as chief counsel. Bent joins from Linklaters, where she served as counsel in the Financial Regulatory Group, and was previously at Milbank and Allen & Overy. Tamika’s practice has focused on complex derivatives, banking, and broker-dealer regulatory, transactional, and related bankruptcy matters.
“Tamika is a seasoned derivatives lawyer with more than 15 years of experience, including many years as a senior attorney in private practice, as in-house counsel, and as an academic,” said Johnson in a statement. “She has significant expertise in the derivatives markets and extensive knowledge about the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act financial reforms.”
Bent said in a statement: “I am eager to leverage my expertise to execute on [commissioner Johnson’s] priorities around CCP risk and governance, climate-related risk, market structure, and innovative and emerging technologies affecting the derivatives and related financial markets.”
In 2022, Tamika participated in the inaugural International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) leadership program, co-authoring a paper on the use of technology in the context of regulatory reporting and digital assets as collateral. She’s also offered critical advice and counsel on new and evolving technologies and markets, with a focus on cryptocurrencies, tokenized securities, and voluntary carbon credits.
Goldman Sachs’ Irfan Hussain to join LSEG as CIO
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) announced that Irfan Hussain will join the Group as chief information officer (CIO). Based in New York, he will start in January 2024. He joins the Executive Committee, reporting to David Schwimmer, LSEG CEO.
Hussain joins from Goldman Sachs where he is a partner and chief operating & strategy officer for Engineering. He has held various roles at the firm including CIO for Consumer and Wealth Management, and roles in the Global Banking and Markets and Asset and Wealth Management divisions in New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Hussain replaces Tony McCarthy, who will retire in early 2024.
McCarthy said in a statement: “After a long career in the financial markets, it has been an incredible privilege for me to be a part of the team that transformed LSEG into the leading data, analytics and global financial markets infrastructure provider. Irfan is a talented leader who will continue building on the critical contribution the technology team makes to LSEG and to our customers.”
Jon Ford takes on role as Pirum’s new head of Fixed Income Business Development
Pirum announced that Jon Ford has joined as its new head of Fixed Income Business Development. He will be based in London but have global responsibility for Pirum’s expanding fixed income agenda. Previously, Jon spent 8 years in RBC Capital Markets where his most recent role was head of Fixed Income Financing sales. Jon also held senior positions at Barclays Capital, Nomura, and Lehman Brothers in roles across Prime Brokerage, Syndicate, Sales, Origination and Trading.
Jon Ford said in a statement: “Fixed Income Collateral and Repo will be the next beneficiaries of Pirum’s technology and solutions, and I am thrilled to be part of the team bringing these improvements to market. In a zero-rate environment the cost of inefficiency could be tolerated, that is not the case anymore. Pirum’s got the solution.”
OCC appoints NYSE exec Meaghan Dugan to Board
The Options and Clearing Corporation (OCC) announced the appointment of Meaghan Dugan, head of Options at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), to its Board of Directors. Dugan brings more than 20 years of experience in listed options trading and market making. She fills a vacancy left in July 2023.
In her current role with NYSE, Dugan is responsible for oversight of the NYSE Amex Options and the NYSE Arca Options markets. She leads competitive strategy and development as well as managing the NYSE Options team’s business strategy, including commercial incentive programs and market structure initiatives.
Prior to joining the NYSE, Dugan spent 11 years at Bank of America, most recently as the head of Product for US Electronic Options and Global Future Algorithms. Prior to that, Dugan worked for Morgan Stanley, originally in San Francisco as a lead Market Maker in its Automated Market Making business then later in MSET, an electronic trading tam delivering trading algorithms and solutions to institutional and buy-side trading.
SFT: Bilello departs from Citi
John Bilello, North America head of agency securities lending at Citi, has departed from the firm after a decade. Based in the US, Bilello has attained 30 years’ experience within the securities finance industry. He joined Citi in 2013 from Deutsche Asset Management where he was a director and senior portfolio manager between 2009 and 2012.
Previously, Bilello was director and portfolio manager at Deutsche Bank between 1997 and 2002. In this role, he was responsible for strategy and oversight of global portfolios related to securities lending and Rule 2a-7 funds. Prior to this, Bilello was vice president at Lehman Brothers from 1992 to 1997. Source