Ian Power

UBS has appointed Ian J Power as head of multi-asset trading – UK for its Execution Hub, along with numerous other hires into its London and Frankfurt-based outsourced trading teams, The TRADE can reveal.  

Power joins from Newton Investment Management, where he was responsible for trading both cash and derivatives instruments across all asset classes, with a bias towards fixed income​. He was formerly head of trading in London for Standard Life Investments and before that ran trading at Ignis Asset Management​. 

Power also holds the title head of UK execution, and will report to Chris Blackburn, head of EMEA for the Execution Hub. His appointment is part of a wider build-out of the UBS’ London and Frankfurt-based outsourced trading teams as the bank looks to ramp up its EMEA coverage.  

According to an internal memo seen by The TRADE, additional London hires include Paul Christophorou, who previously spent 19 years as a senior global trader for Odey Asset Management, responsible for trading equities, ETFs, equity and bond futures and commodities. He is joined by Gozde Yildiz, a multi-asset trader focusing on fixed income, equities and derivatives trading. Prior to joining UBS, Yildiz was at a boutique firm trading government bonds, SSA, credit and equities.

In Frankfurt, Dirk Heim joins as head of EU execution. Heim was previously with Quoniam Asset Management managing the execution of global equity portfolio baskets alongside derivatives and FX, and has held senior positions at Merrill Lynch’s Strategic Investment Group, Marble Bar Asset Management and BTG’s GEMM Funds. He also reports to Blackburn.

Dennis Reinheimer also joins the Frankfurt team, after working for UBS for over eight years as a multi-asset trader for financial intermediaries. All roles have now started, with a third member of the EU trading team expected imminently. 

UBS’ outsourced trading business is currently believed to count over 300 bank, broker-dealer and wealth management clients across EMEA. 

The bank started the expansion of its offering last year in the US with the hire of Jon Slavin as head of UBS Execution Hub Americas in June 2021. Slavin is formerly of Morgan Stanley and reports into Mark Goodman, who is global head of UBS Execution Hub, based in London. 

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TS Imagine, the result of the 2021 merger between TradingScreen and Imagine Software, has promoted Thomas Bodenski to the position of chief operating officer (COO) as the firm continues its rapid headcount expansion. 

Based in New York, Bodenski will lead the firm’s business operations across its integrated trading, portfolio and real-time risk solutions as well as heading up its global data strategy.  

Bodenski joined the firm in September 2021 as chief transformation and data officer. He was previously founding partner, chief data and analytics officer at data management specialist Element22, and prior to that founded trading and risk technology consultancy FOXEYE. He started his career at New Technology Systems in Austria before moving to New York in 1997, and subsequently held various senior technology roles at firms including Capco and State Street.  

“Since joining TS Imagine a year ago, Thomas has made a significant impact on the business as chief transformation and data officer, using his extensive technical and operational expertise to consolidate and develop TS Imagine’s offering following the merger of TradingScreen and Imagine Software,” said TS Imagine CEO Rob Flatley. 

“In his new role, Thomas will leverage his vast experience to lead TS Imagine’s operations and drive initiatives across the business. Thomas will be integral to building on TS Imagine’s significant momentum and further develop our offerings.” 

“The latest appointment follows a strong first half, with bookings up 300% on the previous year.”

The latest appointment follows a strong first half, with bookings up 300% on the previous year: growth attributed to favourable market dynamics and a growing preference for multi-asset class trading and investment administration.  

“We are seeing increased demand from sophisticated investors – from multi-strategy hedge funds to global asset managers – for modern, SaaS-based trading and risk software with multi-asset capabilities. Synergies from our merger have accelerated our growth – generating cross-selling opportunities and expanding strategic alliances,” said Andrew Morgan, president and chief revenue officer. 

To boost its rapid expansion the firm has upped its headcount by around 25% over the past year, including three new non-executive board members and 100 new hires, mainly in development and data science roles. Other senior appointments include Paul Sweeney as head of fixed income development, Puiter Kogan as global head of infrastructure, Marina Melnick as chief business development officer for Eastern Europe, Thomas Benevento for product management risk/margin, and Per Loven as global head of marketing and alliances. 

TS Imagine recently connected with Coinbase Prime, the US-based crypto exchange’s prime brokerage division, to offer its institutional clients a regulated avenue into trading digital assets. Last month, it also opened its first office in Montreal, Canada.  

Learn more about TS Imagine’s journey over the past year with Chris Hollands on Trade TV.  

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David Solomon, who is also co-chief operating officer, will become the sole president and chief operating officer at Goldman following Schwartz’s departure.

The move suggests Solomon would be in pole position to replace Lloyd Blankfein, the current chairman and CEO at Goldman since 2006, who has been tipped to step down from his position by the end of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Solomon and Schwartz were appointed co-chief operating officers in January 2017, having previously been co-head of the investment banking business and chief financial officer respectively.

Prior to his position as chief financial officer, Schwartz served as global co-head of the securities division and was responsible for growing the fixed income, commodity and currencies (FICC) and equities business.

He first joined Goldman Sachs in 1997 and was named a managing director in 1999 and partner in 2002.  

“Over his 20-year career at Goldman Sachs, [Schwartz] has held leadership roles across a broad range of the firm’s operations – from securities and investment banking to the executive office, where he served as chief financial officer; and most recently, as president and co-chief operating officer,” said Blankfein.

“[Schwartz’s] work ethic, command of complexity, and client focus have defined his career at the firm. [He] has been a mentor to many, and his influence has made an indelible impact on generations of professionals at Goldman Sachs.”

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Ensuring trading desks have people in the right roles with a multitude of skill sets providing different perspectives is thought to be imperative when dealing in a fragmented market place.

Irina Isaakova, vice president at TD Asset Management stressed the importance of human capital to delegates at the event in Boston this week.

She said: “I need to make sure I have the right people, with the right skill sets in the right roles – I am also a strong believer in specialisation.”

John Adam, global head of product strategy at Portware echoed Isaakova’s thoughts, explaining to delegates that with the problems facing the bond markets, particularly in terms of data, human capital is an important asset.

Adam said: “If you can be different in your thinking, you will find yourself with huge opportunities. Having a diverse team with a different perspectives means you can act immediately taking into account everyone’s view on the team.”

He also made the point that the implementation of technology does not mean a reduction in headcount will follow.

“There are misconceptions that implementing technology will lead to a reduction in traders, but it automates the lower level tasks so the individual can focus on those important decisions around risk.”

Frank Cerveney, head of markets at MTS added: “I totally agree – it’s about empowering the individual.”

MTS BondsPro announced it is connecting to Bloomberg’s TSOX as the bond industry moves towards greater connectivity to improve the bond network for liquidity.

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As part of his new position, Shing will be responsible for strengthening BNP’s equity derivatives strategy by developing trade ideas for clients.

Having obtained a PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Birmingham, Shing has over 20 years’ experience in financial markets and joins BNP Paribas from BCS Asset Management where he was a global equity portfolio manager at BCS Asset Management. He has also held positions at Barclays, Kepler Cheuvreux and Schroders.  

In his new role Shing will report to global head of research and strategy Robert McAdie.

 “To maintain and enhance the value we add to clients, we are pleased to welcome Edmund to BNP Paribas. He brings excellent experience as both an investor and strategist in equity derivatives.” said McAdie.

Shing’s duties will also include serving the bank’s institutional investor and absolute-return fund clients as well as engaging with sovereign wealth funds and central banks. He will also manage a team of strategists in London, Paris, Hong Kong and New York. 

By Paul Walsh, Staff Writer 

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Independent execution broker ITG have announced the appointment of Francis Troise as new CEO and President.

Mr Troise will leave his current role as head of execution services at J.P Morgan to take up the role in January 2016.

Chair of the ITG Board of Directors Maureen O’Hara commented on the new appointment.

“After a thorough and careful search process, the Board chose Frank as the right candidate to lead ITG at this pivotal time.”

“Frank is a well-known industry expert with an impressive track record of growing electronic trading operations, establishing strong relationships and building talented teams.”  

The appointment comes after former CEO Bob Gasser stepped down from the position in the wake of ITG’s involvement in a dark pool rule violation scandal during 2010-11.

ITG has now settled the matter with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and paid a fine in excess of $20 million.

Prior to his current position at JP Morgan, Mr Troise served as head of trading at Barclays Capital and head of US electronic execution at Lehman Brothers. He also spent eight years at ITG in a number of roles including as a managing director.

“I am thrilled to be returning to ITG, a firm which I know first-hand is relentlessly focused on providing world-class customer services and best execution.” Mr Troise added. 

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The Supervisory Board, in accordance with the Bank’s Strategy 2020, has introduced these changes to simplify the Bank’s internal management structure.

The Corporate Banking and Securities division will now be split into two separate business units.

From 1 January 2016 a Corporate and Investment Banking division will be created alongside a newly-created Global Markets division.

Further changes affect the Asset and Wealth Management division of Deutsche with high net worth clients being served by Private Wealth Management- an independent business unit within the Private and Business Clients sector.

Asset Management will become a stand-alone division focusing on institutional clients.

Other staff changes include the current head of Corporate Banking and Securities Jeff Urwin who will take on responsibility for Corporate and Investment Banking. As a result, long-term Management Board member Stefan Krause – currently responsible for Global Transaction Banking and Non-Core Operations Unit – will step down effective 31 October 2015.

Werner Steinmuller will remain head of Global Transaction Banking while Qunitin Price, current Global Executive Committee member, will take a place on the Management Board with responsibility for Deutsche’s new Asset Management division.

Michele Faissola the current head of Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management will also leave the Bank following a transitional period. 

Paul Achleitner, chairman of the Supervisory Board, stressed the long-term benefits of the restructuring.

“I would like to stress that all parties involved have tried to achieve the best possible outcomes for Deutsche Bank having set aside personal interests.

“We would like to thank all those leaving the company for their contributions.”    

By Paul Walsh, Staff Writer

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CoalFace Capital is hoping to attract such traders through a reward system that pays traders based on their monthly performance. The company says it will return 80% of the revenue it receives from platforms by retaining active and consistent traders. 

It believes that high-performing traders can generate additional income through their performance and activity.

Registered traders will be rewarded based on where they feature on a performance ranking league table.

Half of the incentive payment will be related to how large an account is and how actively that person is trading. The remainder is determined by where the trader ranks in the CoalFace League Table.

While the performance is weighted in favour of those who perform best, everybody who trades is remunerated, according to the statement.

Founder and chief executive officer Declan McEvoy was previously head of European investor sales at Standard Chartered, an executive director at UBS Investment Bank and head of Leveraged Investor Sales (FX) at Citi.

He said: “CoalFace is conceived and designed with traders’ interests at its heart. There is a need within the industry for serious traders to be rewarded for their trading. – CoalFace Capital is that mechanism.

“By utilising existing commercial infrastructure to reward traders, CoalFace Capital addresses a need within the market for a mechanism to compensate successful traders for their activity.

“By paying traders, CoalFace Capital reduces the ever-present temptation to over leverage that effects most traders. CoalFace Capital also helps trading platforms attract and retain high performing accounts. CoalFace Capital is the catalyst that helps both sides.”

Today’s announcement confirmed that partnership agreements with ADS Securities London, CMC Markets, FXCM and FX Pro have already been signed.

Details can be found on the CoalFace Capital website.

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The list of 40 was drawn up following extensive market research with industry leaders on the sell-side and buy-side and verified with interviews with employers and individuals to evaluate their credentials.

To qualify for consideration, individuals had to be aged under 40 years of age as at 31 December 2015 and be working in a trading function at an asset manager, wealth manager, stockbroker, technology group, or life company.

Consideration was given to each individual’s day-to-day role in the business, career progression to date and involvement in industry initiatives.

Further credit was awarded for commendable extra-curricular activities such as examples of volunteer or mentoring work or for academic success in a professional examination scheme.

All those who made the list must be based in Europe, although they can trade assets globally.

After a lengthy judging process, our panel considered the following 40 people to be worthy of recognition.

Name:                         Rory Magrath

Job title:                      Head of European equity trading

Company:                   Union Bancaire Privée (UBP)

Rory Magrath was appointed head of European equity trading at private bank UBP in October 2014 with responsibility for institutional equity trading on behalf of the $876 million UBAM Europe Equity fund.

Previously, he was a global multi-asset trader at Citi Investment Management with responsibility for execution for equity, fixed income and ‘balanced’ portfolios.

Old Etonian Magrath spent the majority of his career at Jefferies & Company, working as a pan-European equity trader between July 2008 and September 2012.

He is a graduate of University College London with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business.  During his time at UCL, he was placed third in JP Morgan’s rates trading game ‘Fantasy Futures’ in both 2006 and 2007.

Name:                         Darren Fancourt

Job title:                      Multi-Asset Trader

Company:                   Seven Investment Management

Seven Investment Management’s Darren Fancourt oversees a team of two traders working across all asset classes and currencies.

He is responsible for transaction cost analysis of all trades and has developed systems and procedures for straight-through processing (STP) to monitor corporate productivity.

Fancourt joined Seven Investment Management back in August 2010 and has been with the company for five years. He was previously an equities dealer at Brown Shipley for three years between 2007 and 2010.

Fancourt holds the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment Diploma in Investment Operations, the CISI Advanced Certificate in Global Securities Operations, the CISI Level 3 Certificate in Securities and Financial Derivatives and the CISI Level 3 Certificate in Investment Administration.

Name:                         Adam Batley

Job title:                      FX Trader

Company:                   Aviva Investors

Adam Batley is a foreign exchange dealer for London-based Aviva Investors.

After gaining his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Kent in 2005, Batley has continued his professional development with a string of industry qualifications.

He holds the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment Certificate for Investments (Derivatives), the CFA Society Investment Management Certificate and has passed level I of the CFA program.

After graduating he became a foreign exchange dealer and analyst for BNY Melon Overlay Associates. The division is a specialist currency overlay manager, offering currency hedging and alpha strategies to pension funds and other institutional investors across the globe.

As the financial crisis erupted, Batley made the move from the sell-side to the buy-side, joining Aviva Investors in September 2008. As an FX dealer he is responsible for all aspects of FX trading, including execution of spot and forward contracts in developed and emerging market currency pairs, and executing FX options.

Other key aspects of his role include executing trades to hedge SICAV hedged share classes, currency hedging for non-fixed income fund managers and monitoring custodian FX trades in restricted markets.

Name:                         Sam Spencer

Job title:                      Head Trader, Americas (London-based)

Company:                   Investec Asset Management

Investec Asset Management’s Sam Spencer joined the company in the summer of 2012 after five years working on the FICC macro desk at MAN GLG.

Initially he had focussed primarily on equities, but he progressed to all asset classes over the past year.

He says that working in the sovereign bond markets was one of the notable differences to trading with the highly transparent US stock market.

Spencer has mentored interns and become more heavily involved in the trading of emerging market debt in recent months.  He says recent career highlights include having executed some sizeable trades in very small, illiquid markets with minimal impact on price.

He describes his style as “not being afraid to go big when the time is right and maintaining close relationships with major trading counterparties.”

Spencer has also been involved in several charity projects outside of the working day, joining colleagues to take part in the Prudential Ride London 100 bike ride last year, raising thousands for charities including ‘Tusk’, an organisation with which Investec has close links.

Name:                         Stefan Garcia

Job title:                      Executive director

Company:                   Source

Exchange Traded Product (ETP) group Source hired Stefan Garcia in 2009 to build its commodities platform from ETF Securities, where he was a founding partner.

Garcia has been key to raising the profile of Source over the past two years and responsible for significant inflows during that time.

A Russian speaker, Garcia moved to London in 2003 when he competed his Master of Business Administration at the London Business School.  He also has a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Managerial Economics from Brown University.

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Over the summer, The TRADE has been gathering nominations to compile a list of the 40 individuals under the age of 40 that are most likely to enjoy notable career advancement in the coming years. 

The list of 40 was drawn up following extensive market research with industry leaders on the sell-side and buy-side and verified with interviews with employers and individuals to evaluate their credentials.

To qualify for consideration, individuals had to be aged under 40 years of age as at 31 December 2015 and be working in a trading function at an asset manager, wealth manager, stockbroker, technology group, or life company.

Consideration was given to each individual’s day-to-day role in the business, career progression to date and involvement in industry initiatives.

Further credit was awarded for commendable extra-curricular activities such as examples of volunteer or mentoring work or for academic success in a professional examination scheme.

All those who made the list must be based in Europe, although they can trade assets globally.

After a lengthy judging process, our panel considered the following 40 people to be worthy of recognition.

Name:                          James Hathaway

Job title:                      Trader

Company:                   First State Investments

James Hathaway has spent 14 years working at major market players and building his experience in trading, mainly in the credit markets.

Beginning his career at RBC Capital Markets, he spent four years working up to the role of vice president, credit trading, before taking a similar role at Morgan Stanley.

For almost three years, Hathaway was involved in market making for European investment grade and cross over credit default swaps.

In June 2008 he then made the move to GFI Group as a European credit derivatives broker.

In his two years at AXA, Hathaway focused on global emerging markets trading credit and rates. At the time of writing Hathaway was on gardening leave in preparation for his move to First State.

Hathaway also holds a BSc in Chemistry and Economics from the University of Durham.

Name:                         Tim Marchant

Job title:                      Co-founder and COO

Company:                   Cardwell Investment Technologies

Tim Marchant, co-founder and COO, Cardwell Investment Technologies

Cardwell Investment Technologies is a short-term, systematic, uncorrelated managed futures program co-founded by Tim Marchant and Barnaby Cardwell in 2007.

Marchant brought over a decade of experience in the financial markets with him to the firm, which included trading his own capital under the mentorship of Cardwell before co-founding the firm in in August 2007.

At Cardwell, Marchant manages operations, trading strategy development and road shows to grow fund asset under management. He also oversaw FCA and NFA registration and onboarding to multiple platforms.

Prior to Cardwell,  Marchant was a proprietary trader at ABM Futures for almost two years, gaining experience in trading a wide variety of liquid futures contracts outright and spreads.

Marchant began his career at Bloomberg, where he progressed from analytics to sales specialising in technical analysis.

Name:                         Cindy Chan

Job title:                      Risk specialist

Company:                   N/A

Tipped as one of the “gifted young minds” in risk and asset allocation analysis, former sell-sider Cindy Chan is poised to make a return to the City in the coming months.

Chan took a career break last year after six years as head of investment risk for the Universities Superannuation Scheme. Her nomination is in recognition of her considerable knowledge built from her work on both sides of The Street.

Back in 2002, she worked as a research analyst for Deutsche Bank working on the programme trading and equity derivatives research team – a role she held for just over two years before joining Fortis as a senior quant analysis in 2005.

At USS, she had a huge mandate, with responsibility for managing risk for £31.5 billion in assets – one of the UK’s largest pension schemes. She was also previously a quant analyst for the Shell Pensions scheme.

Chan has a Master of Science in Operational Research from the London School of Economics and a Master of Science in Information Processing and Neural Networks from Kings College.

Name:                         Ben Thompson

Job title:                      Trader

Company:                   Bluebay Asset Management

Bluebay’s Ben Thompson joined the team back in January 2014 and handles emerging markets local currency rates and FX trades.

He joined from Ashmore, where his focus was on emerging markets credit, both sovereign and corporate.

Thompson started his career at Northern Rock, which he joined back in 2003.  He worked at the ill-fated lender for four years working across wholesale funding, liquidity management and risk management.

He left Northern Rock in August 2007 to join the Leeds Building Society as a treasury dealer where he staid until June 2010.

Thompson is a graduate of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with a Master of Arts in Finance and financial Management Services.  He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Managerial Economics.

Name:                         Derek Flynn

Job title:                      Senior equity trader

Company:                   BlueCrest Capital Management

Described ‘outstanding’ by his peers, Derek Flynn joined BlueCrest Capital Management as the senior equity trader in May 2013, trading predominantly for the BlueCrest Equities Fund.

He was previously working at Nomura on the centralised dealing desk in London.  He worked as a trade floor support IT analyst at Lehman Brothers between September 2007 and February 2012.

Flynn also worked in a trading floor support role at Nomura in the three years before joining Lehman Brothers.

He is a graduate of the University of Limerick with a bachelors degree in Computer Systems, Systems Analysis, Database Design and Programming, which he completed in 2007.

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