Frank Seibold joins Pirum to accelerate Americas growth
Pirum Systems announced it’s appointed Frank Seibold as head of Commercial Development for the Americas region. He joins the global fintech’s New York office and will work alongside Matthew Lilien, head of Sales North America, as the firm continues to scale its business in this important growth region.
Sibebold’s focus will be on accelerating Pirum’s business in the Americas while further refining its complete post-trade lifecycle offering. His 30-year career includes holding senior positions across financial services, data, trading and post-trade platforms and he has experience in growing businesses that serve enterprise clients at the intersection of financial services and technology. He joins Pirum from CME Group, where he was global head of Strategic Relationship Management and head of Cash Market Sales.
Seibold said in a statement: “It will be a privilege to work with the team to accelerate Pirum’s growth in the Americas, and I look forward to collaborating with Jacob and the rest of Pirum team on what will no doubt be a fantastic journey together.”
Jacob Koopmans, chief revenue officer at Pirum, said in a statement that the extent of Siebold’s previous achievements “underscores the seriousness and intent with which Pirum continues to invest in our client base and presence in the Americas.”
GLMX promotes Giglio and Wiblin as expansion continues
GLMX announced senior management promotions. Sal Giglio, previously chief operating officer and chief markets officer, has been promoted to president and chief revenue officer. Andy Wiblin, previously chief product officer, has been promoted to global chief operating officer.
Glenn Havlicek, GLMX CEO and co-founder, said in a statement: “Sal and Andy are significant talents who have made, individually and collectively, irreplaceable contributions to GLMX’s success. These promotions both recognize those contributions and prepare our company for its next stage of growth.”
GLMX is a global technology solution for trading money market instruments, including repurchase agreements, securities lending transactions and time deposits, processing over $2.1 trillion in daily securities financing transaction (SFT) balances across 125 major financial market participants.
“Driven by the firm’s customer-centric philosophy, GLMX is entering an exciting new phase of growth as it expands into adjacent front-end trading products in order to deliver on our users’ desire for a single point of access to the global money market,” Giglio said in a statement.
“This is a critical time for the markets we serve. I look forward to continuing to work with our highly talented team at GLMX to help our clients navigate evolving market structure using our award-winning technology,” Wiblin said in a statement.
Beth Hammack leaves Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs’ co-head in the Global Financing Group Beth Hammack announced she is leaving the investment bank after over 30 years. “I plan to take a break for the next several months, respond more slowly to email, and spend time with my incredible husband and 2 sons. I’m excited to decide what comes next,” she wrote in a Linked In post.
“Since my start as an analyst in capital markets, I’ve tried to make an impact – on our people, our clients and our firm. I’ve loved working alongside dedicated colleagues to grow our businesses – improving the profitability and efficiency of our Global Repo desk, creating the Global Short Term Macro desk, and transforming Corporate Treasury to prudently manage capital and liquidity with a keen eye on cost,” she said in the post.
She summarized her “3 incredible decades in 3 bullets”: risk always comes first; invest in your people and build followership: and drive growth and promote continuous improvement.
Citi announces new head of Banking, EVP Raghavan
In a note to colleagues, Citi CEO Jane Fraser announced that Viswas (Vis) Raghavan will join Citi as head of Banking and executive vice chair of Citi, reporting to her directly.
“As head of Banking, Vis will lead one of our five core businesses, with responsibility for Investment, Corporate and Commercial Banking. In his role as executive vice chair, Vis will help shape and drive our firm-wide strategy and assist me with key strategic initiatives. He will join Citi’s Executive Management team and serve on the Board of Citi Foundation,” she wrote. “We expect Vis to join Citi this summer. Peter Babej, chair and interim head of Banking, has agreed to assist with the transition before retiring from Citi.”
Raghavan joins from J.P. Morgan, where he most recently was head of Global Investment Banking, after previously having served as co-head of Global Investment and Corporate Banking since 2020. Prior to that, he was appointed head of EMEA Investment and Corporate Banking and Treasury Services in 2012. In addition to his global banking responsibilities, he was also CEO of J.P. Morgan in EMEA since 2017, working with the bank’s senior country officers and business heads to deliver for clients across all lines of business in the region. Raghavan first joined J.P. Morgan in 2000 and held senior roles in Debt and Equity Capital Markets globally.
SFT: Cochrane promoted at J.P. Morgan
Tessa Grace Cochrane has been promoted to head of APAC fixed income financing sales at J.P. Morgan, according to Securities Finance Times. Based in Sydney, Cochrane was previously executive director of rates and repo sales, having joined the firm in 2015. She brings more than 15 years of industry experience to the role. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, she spent eight months in Luxembourg as an investment analyst at Schroders.
Vanguard CEO to retire, CIO appointed president
Vanguard announced that Tim Buckley will retire from his role as chair and CEO by year-end 2024 after more than three decades of service at the firm. Vanguard’s Board of Directors has initiated a process to select a new CEO, evaluating both internal and external candidates. Vanguard also announced today that chief investment officer Greg Davis has been appointed to the additional role of president of the firm.
Buckley said in a statement: “In my seventh year as CEO, we have scaled our mission to more than 50 million investors, and our team is just getting started. I have been passionate about developing the next generation of leaders, and I look forward to those leaders elevating Vanguard to new heights.”
Highlights of Buckley’s tenure include expanding the client base by tens of millions to more than 50 million investors globally, growing assets under management by more than 80% to $9 trillion, expanding Vanguard’s award-winning advice business with differentiated digital and hybrid solutions, digitizing and modernizing business operations and the client experience, and improving client service and satisfaction.
In his expanded role as both president and CIO, Davis will be responsible for all aspects of the firm’s investment management, retirement business, and services for financial advisor clients, overseeing the majority of Vanguard’s fund and ETF distribution. Within his expanded remit, he will also further advocate for policies for the betterment of the capital markets and help ensure more investors have the access and ability to save for a secure future.
Davis is a 24-year Vanguard veteran, first appointed CIO and global head of Vanguard Investment Management Group in 2017. He currently oversees $8 trillion in global assets managed by Vanguard’s fixed income, equity index, and quantitative equity groups. He is a member of both the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of the US Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.
Ramaswamy to become Snowflake CEO
Data cloud company Snowflake announced that Frank Slootman has decided to retire as chief executive officer and Sridhar Ramaswamy has been named CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Ramaswamy previously held the position of senior vice president of Artificial Ontelligence (AI) at Snowflake. Slootman will continue to serve as chair of the Board.
Slootman said in a statement: “There is no better person than Sridhar to lead Snowflake into this next phase of growth and deliver on the opportunity ahead in AI and machine learning.” Ramaswamy said in a statement that his focus will be on accelerating the firm’s ability to “bring innovation to our customers and partners.”
Since joining Snowflake in May 2023 in connection with the company’s acquisition of Neeva, the world’s first private AI powered search engine, Ramaswamy has been spearheading Snowflake’s AI strategy. He led the launch of Snowflake Cortex, Snowflake’s new fully managed service that makes AI simple and secure for all users to quickly drive business value. Earlier in his career, Ramaswamy led all of Google’s advertising products, which included search, display and video advertising, analytics, shopping, payments, and travel.
SEC names Natasha Vij Greiner as director of the Division of Investment Management
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that William Birdthistle, the director of the Division of Investment Management, will depart the agency, and Natasha Vij Greiner, currently the deputy director of the Division of Examinations, will replace him. The Division oversees regulatory policy for investment advisers and investment companies, including mutual funds and other investment products and services relied upon by retail investors.
Birdthistle has overseen the SEC’s work to strengthen oversight of investment companies and investment advisers – from data reporting to fund names to money market reforms, SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a statement, adding that Greiner brings “deep and broad expertise to the Division, both having led the agency’s Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program and having served in other key leadership roles over her more than two decades at the SEC.”
UK FCA’s Advisers’ Sustainability Group announces founding members
The Advisers’ Sustainability Group (ASG), recently established by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to develop good practice guidance for financial advisers has announced its founding membership.
Daniel Godfrey, ASG chair, said in a statement that the group is focused on its mission of developing guidance that helps advisers deliver advice on sustainability matters and leads to better outcomes for consumers. Julia Dreblow, vice chair, said in a statement: “This group is a phenomenally strong group of individuals. It is intentionally representative of a wide range of adviser, planner and wealth manager interests and views – as well as of the core services advisers rely on.”
Along with Godfrey and Dreblow, the Advisers’ Sustainability Group includes representatives from the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA), Charles Stanley, Nova Wealth Management, ESG Accord, among a number of other firms.
Tokenbridge appoints Clara Pensions co-founder as EMEA Advisory Board chair
Tokenbridge, a token aggregator and distribution platform in the wealth and fund management ecosystem, announced the appointment of Kim Toker as the chair of the firm’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Advisory Board. Toker is the co-founder and former chief operating officer of Clara Pensions with two decades of experience in financial services, technological innovation, and strategic leadership.
“As the co-founder of Clara Pensions, she pioneered a new solution in the defined benefit pension market with a focus on social good, emphasizing the importance of sound data, governance, and member outcomes, leveraging technology and automation to streamline processes, reduce costs and improve overall scheme management, reflecting her commitment to delivering value through innovation,” according to a company statement.
Before her tenure at Clara Pensions, she served in key strategic and regulatory roles at leading financial institutions including Barclays and Credit Suisse. This appointment follows a series of developments for Tokenbridge, including the recent launch of its platform and the bolstering of its EMEA Advisory Board with senior institutional finance and technology experts.
Toker said in a statement: “We’re in an age of tremendous technological innovation and it’s important we harness this to revolutionize the way investments are managed and accessed.”