David Wright was named head of FX trading and distribution at MUFG after three years with the business. He joined the bank in 2021 as global head of e-FX having and previously served as a strategic transformation consultant at State Street.Prior to that, Tokyo-based Wright spent 16 years at Morgan Stanley, most recently as a managing director. He has also held roles at FXall and UBS, as product manager and associate director, respectively.

Royal London Asset Management restructured its global equity team following the departure of its head of equities and some members of the wider global equities team. Peter Rutter, former head of equities at the firm resigned earlier this year, alongside several members of the global equities team who are believed to be setting up their own company. Piers Hillier, chief investment officer, takes on responsibility for Royal London AM’s global equity capabilities. He brings more than 30 years’ experience, including previously serving as head of international equities at Kames Capital, as well as numerous senior global investment roles at other firms.

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He joined the bank in 2021 as global head of e-FX having and previously served as a strategic transformation consultant at State Street.

Prior to that, Tokyo-based Wright spent 16 years at Morgan Stanley, most recently as a managing director. He has also held roles at FXall and UBS, as product manager and associate director, respectively.

Last July, MUFG and Morgan Stanley signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on their foreign exchange offerings in a bid to further enhance their respective trading businesses.

Specifically, it was confirmed that MUFG’s main banking offshoot (MUBK) would link with fixed income at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities (MSMS), utilising Morgan Stanley’s global FX business platform.

With the agreement – known as Alliance 2.0 – both sides were set to benefit from an enhanced scale and reach.

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Ponzio will be based in New York, responsible for managing the firm’s program trading and ETF market making businesses. He joins BTIG after most recently heading up execution strategy at Millennium – a role he held for nearly 12 years. Previously in his career, he also spent eight years at Citi, building out its US trading algorithms and systematised risk pricing on its cash trading desk.

JP Morgan appointed a new head of global equities amid wider changes to senior leadership in its markets division. According to an internal memo published on Thursday 15 February, Rachid Alaoui has been appointed head of global equities at JP Morgan.

Alaoui was most recently head of global equity derivatives trading at JP Morgan, covering flow derivatives, exotics, corporate derivatives and convertible bond trading franchises. He joined JP Morgan in 2005 as a trader on the equity exotics desk in London. He has since held multiple roles managing equity exotics and flow trading desks in London and head of global volatility trading in equities.

The news follows JP Morgan’s earlier appointment of two new co-heads of its markets division – Jason Sippel and Pranav Thakur – in January as part of wider changes to leadership in the division.

Sippel has been with JP Morgan since 2002. Previously in his career he also served at Overstock.com, Credit Suisse, and Merrill Lynch. He began his career as an analyst at Lehman Brothers in 1993.  Thakur was most recently appointed head of global macro markets and emerging markets credit in 2022 after also previously leading currencies, commodities and emerging markets trading.

MUFG appointed Wael Al Sharif as head of global corporate and investment banking (GCIB) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, effective from 1 April 2024. He succeeds Elyas Al Gaseer who had held the post of head of GCIB MENA since 2013. Al Gaseer’s role is being transformed to become vice chair of GCIB MENA, responsible for advising MUFG’s senior clients across the MENA region.

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Former head of market services and digital at Euronext, Eglantine Desautel, has been selected to head up the European consolidated tape efforts. Desautel has been selected as chief executive officer of EuroCTP – the European initiative to establish a consolidated tape in Europe. Desautel takes up the role after over a decade with Euronext, serving most recently as its head of market services and digital, as well as previously serving as head of its Optiq programme. She originally joined NYSE Euronext in 2011 as its deputy chief of staff to the president and deputy chief executive.

Adrian Ip has been named chief strategy officer at Aquis Exchange, having most recently served as managing director at Aquis Technologies. Ip joined the exchange back in 2017, initially as director of product management & technology sales – a role he held until May 2022. He has previously held senior roles across various businesses, including: Wccftech, FireDrake Consulting, Thomson Reuters, and Horizon Software.

Trading Technologies (TT) made three new appointments to its senior leadership team, including chief operating officer; executive vice president of fixed income; and executive vice president of futures and options – all of which will join the firm on 1 January 2024. Justin Llewellyn-Jones has been appointed chief operating officer, joining from Broadridge where he most recently served as chief product officer and head of capital markets, North America (equities, FX and derivatives). Meanwhile, Christopher Heffernan has been appointed executive vice president of fixed income, bringing over two decades worth of experience in fixed income sales and trading, business development and leadership roles. Heffernan will join from Flow Traders, where he has been head of fixed income sales since 2019. Elsewhere, Alun Green will join TT as executive vice president of futures and options, responsible for expanding the firm’s core futures and options franchise. Green joins from Fidelity Information Service (FIS), where he served as managing director, derivatives utility for the past eight years, following the firm’s acquisition of SunGard in 2015.

Dariush Mirfendereski has been appointed head of inflation trading as part of MUFG’s rates trading team. In his new role, he will be responsible for “enhancing overall product capability and expanding MUFG’s financial institutions business with a focus on distributing risk to end users”. Mirfendereski has an extensive career history in the inflation trading sphere and joins MUFG after most recently heading up the division globally at HSBC for nearly 10 years until 2022. Previously he spent seven and a half years at UBS Investment Bank as global head of inflation linked trading and eight years at Barclays as head of inflation derivatives trading.

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Dariush Mirfendereski has been appointed head of inflation trading as part of MUFG’s rates trading team. He will report directly into managing director and co-international head of rates, Faraz Ahmad.

In his new role, he will be responsible for “enhancing overall product capability and expanding MUFG’s financial institutions business with a focus on distributing risk to end users”.

Mirfendereski has an extensive career history in the inflation trading sphere and joins MUFG after most recently heading up the division globally at HSBC for nearly 10 years until 2022.

Previously he spent seven and a half years at UBS Investment Bank as global head of inflation linked trading and eight years at Barclays as head of inflation derivatives trading.

“His track record of leading desks combined with his trading experience across rate cycles adds further depth and expertise to our client offering in EMEA,” said Ahmad in a statement.

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Drew Vincent is set to join TD Cowen in an execution services role following almost 15 years at Credit Suisse. During his tenure, Vincent held various positions across Credit Suisse, most recently as head of AES sales trading, based in London. He also worked on the client coverage team of Credit Suisse’s agency electronic trading platform, Europe, focused on bespoke execution consulting and strategies. In his most recent position, Vincent led a team of sales traders, overseeing the restructured coverage in the aftermath of Brexit, as well as managing the review and deployment of algorithms and implementing T-1 related changes for business operations.

Aquis exchange chief operating officer Jonathan Clelland is set to depart next April, with chief revenue officer and head of Aquis Markets David Stevens appointed to replace him. Prior to joining Aquis, Clelland was chief operating officer at HSBC Investment Bank corporate finance division and of Shearman & Sterling in London. Clelland will remain as a special advisor in order to “ensure a smooth transition”. Stevens joined Aquis in 2021 and had previously held various senior roles across financial services and technology. His past positions included chief executive of foreign exchange broker Global Reach Group, as well as senior roles at Investment Technology Group, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

Twelve individuals were appointed to lead UBS’ business across various areas as it restructures its operations. In the vertical global product pillars, Adrian Bracher was appointed to lead macro structured solutions (rates and FX), having joined UBS this month. Ramzi Issa was named structured credit and sustainable credit products lead, joining the business in November, as is Julien Bieren, soon to lead equity structured solutions. Also in the vertical restructure is Guilio Alfinito, appointed to lead QIS structuring, and Richard Walters, new lead of fund derivatives and structured finance solutions. Under the horizontal set-up, Romain Barba will join the business in November toco-lead APAC structuring alongside Ahmad Chaudry, while Chris Cook will head up Americas structuring. In addition, Erica Yeu will lead wealth management solutions, while Ahmad Chaudry leads wrapping solutions and Hannah Vinci oversees strategic products. Spyros Mesomeris, in addition to his global role, will head up EMEA structuring.

Investec named Paul Moss as its newest equity sales trader following three and a half years at Goldman Sachs. Moss has an established focus on global emerging markets, having worked across various jurisdictions within his roles. He has held various positions across the industry, most recently as CEEMEA (Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa) equity sales trader at Goldman Sachs. Before that we worked in a range of roles at Citi, most recently as pan Asia equity sales trader.

Instinet appointed Christopher Brown as executive director, latency sensitive electronic trading (LSET). Brown joined from JP Morgan where he spent nearly four years as executive director of quantitative investment strategies (QIS). Prior to that, Brown spent almost 3 years at Citi as director of systemic and quant trading solutions. Before joining Citi, Brown served as director, autobahn equity sales and trading, low latency DMA at Deutsche Bank. Elsewhere in his career, Brown held senior position at FIX Protocol, Chi-East and Instinet – the latter being his first tenure at the firm in 2009.

MUFG appointed Daniel Sbroocca in a credit trading position, joining from BNP Paribas where he spent almost nine years. While at BNP Paribas, Sbrocca most recently served as an emerging markets credit trader – a position he held for two years. Previously, Sbrocca held an emerging markets credit sales position at the firm. Elsewhere in his tenure at BNP Parabis, Sbrocca served in a corporate rates sales role for Northern Europe.

Wells Fargo appointed Jon Thorne as senior securities sales trading specialist, joining from Credit Suisse, where he spent 13 and a half years. Most recently, Thorne served as a listed sales trader – a position he held for almost 11 years. Elsewhere during his tenure at Credit Suisse, Thorne worked in a FX and futures execution position as well as a FX prime brokerage role. Before joining Credit Suisse, Thorne held an eFX and prime brokerage FX position at Commerzbank AG. Prior to that, he held the same role at Dresdner Kleinwort.

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According to a social media post, Sbrocca joins MUFG from BNP Paribas where he spent almost nine years.

While at BNP Paribas, Sbrocca most recently served as an emerging markets credit trader – a position he held for two years.

Previously, Sbrocca held an emerging markets credit sales position at the firm.

Elsewhere in his tenure at BNP Parabis, Sbrocca served in a corporate rates sales role for Northern Europe.

Before joining BNP Paribas, Sbrocca held a purchasing position at Valiant Machine and Tool.

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Japan’s MUFG and Morgan Stanley have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on their foreign exchange offerings in a bid to further enhance their respective trading businesses.

Specifically, MUFG’s main banking offshoot (MUBK) will link with fixed income at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities (MSMS), utilising Morgan Stanley’s global FX business platform.

The move comes in the face of regulatory developments, the constant electronification of markets and the increased adoption of new technologies, said the banks. “Global players have responded by scaling up FX trading volume by expanding and diversifying their customer base and by increasing technology investments,” they said.

Plans are to implement in the first half of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals.

With this new agreement – known as Alliance 2.0 – both sides are set to benefit from an enhanced scale and reach.

According to the banks “the integration of MUMSS’ broad Japan equity coverage and domestic client relationships with MSMS’ global operating platform and international client relationships will better serve clients’ sophisticated demand for Japan equity products and services through thought leadership in research, execution, and corporate access.” 

As well as collaborating on FX trading, the MoU also relates to the Japanese research and equity businesses for institutional clients. 

Morgan Stanley’s plan for the institutional Japan equity business is to consolidate Japan equity research, institutional sales, corporate access, and a part of the execution services functions of both entities into MSMS. Additionally, the Japan equity underwriting business is also set to be optimised.

Additionally, as part of the move, the banks plan to set up councils with representatives from each side, and some employees from the different subsidiaries are set to be posted to MSMS and other of the banks’ entities for the consolidated functions.

The initial alliance between the bank and the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group saw the formation of the joint venture between Morgan Stanley and MUFG back in 2010.

Hironori Kamezawa, president and chief executive of MUFG, said: “As part of our enhanced strategic alliance for the coming decades, we will collaborate in global FX business and Japanese research and equity businesses for institutional investors. 

“We aim to continue to provide exceptional services to each of our firm’s clients by adapting in the evolving landscape and incorporating cutting edge ideas.”

The banks have confirmed that client contacts will not change as the respective FX sales businesses continue to be operated independently by both sides. Additionally, MUFG plans to disclose business metrics across both entities.

James Gorman, chair and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, said: “These initiatives are significant not only in terms of providing better services to our clients, but also as examples of ways our two firms can continue to work together and deepen our strategic alliance over the years to come.”

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Sodaski joins MUFG after more than two decades at Credit Suisse, where he worked closely with co-head of flow products, Steve Feinberg, managing a wide range of sales accounts across money managers, insurance companies, bank portfolios, hedge funds and loan portfolios for IG and high-yield bonds and structured credit.

“Jess’s track record and deep knowledge of the credit space is a complementary addition to our team,” said Mr. Karabelas.

“His experience in working with clients to develop solutions tailored to their needs across the whole spectrum of credit strategies will support our client-centric approach as we look to progress toward becoming a top corporate banking debt house in the Americas across the credit spectrum.”

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Kimberly Boulmetis joins MUFG as managing director and head of US financial institutions, based in New York, and will be responsible for leading the coverage of the bank’s institutional clients including banks, insurance companies, asset management firms, private equity sponsors and business development companies (BDCs).

She joins from agency broker BTIG where she had previously been operating as a managing director responsible for specialty finance in its investment banking division.

Prior to joining BTIG, she spent nearly three years as a managing director in Oppenheimer’s investment banking division and three years as a managing director and financial advisor in Bernstein’s global wealth management division.

Previously in her career, Boulmetis also spent two years as head of the debt capital markets financial institutions origination group at The Bank of New York, two years as a vice president at JP Morgan and seven years as a vice president at Bear Stearns as a coverage officer.

“Kim’s distinguished track record spans marquee institutions both large and small,” said Richard Testa, head of investment grade finance at MUFG, to whom Boulmetis will report.

“She brings deep knowledge of markets, complex capital structures and intricate execution strategies—along with an entrepreneurial approach—that make her well-suited for MUFG’s practice and culture as we carry out high-profile mandates for our clients and continue to grow.”

Boulmetis’ appointment is the second major people move at MUFG in the last few months after the bank also appointed a new head of flow FX sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia.

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