Citi named Jamie Miller head of electronic equity sales trading for the EMEA region. Based in London, Miller was appointed to head up the division in EMEA after eight and a half years with the bank, specialising in equity sales trading, according to an update on his social media. Miller originally joined Citi after serving for two internships in the bank’s markets division in 2013 and 2014. He joined as a permanent fixture in 2016 as a graduate analyst in the markets division and later moved into equity sales trading in 2018. He has subsequently continued to rise through the ranks, landing his first vice president role in 2021.

State Street appointed Tomas Truzzi as chief executive of State Street Brazil, replacing Telly Theodoropoulos, who led operations in the country since its foundation in 2019.In the role, Truzzi will be responsible for overseeing all strategic initiatives and operations within the country, with a view to promoting growth within one of Latin America’s key markets. Truzzi joined State Street Brazil as head of FX trading. In his previous role, he oversaw the foreign exchange market making desk and managed Banco Commercial’s local treasury function. Prior to joining State Street, Truzzi worked for Standard Chartered in Brazil as head of trading, responsible for reorganising its local fixed income, foreign exchange, and derivatives businesses. Before that, he served in several roles at Morgan Stanley throughout a 13-year term and managed trading desks in Sao Paulo, New York, and London, with a focus on FX, fixed income, and derivatives. 

NatWest appointed Imogen Bachra to lead its global desk strategy team, taking on the role of head of economics and markets strategy. She is set to provide a data-driven approach, providing views on key macroeconomic and market themes across various regions and asset classes. As part of her new role, Bachra will join the trading and sales management team and report to Simon Manwaring. Bachra joined the bank in 2014 and most recently led the UK rates strategy and non-dollar rates strategy. Prior to NatWest, she held positions at Credit Suisse, HSBC, and Royal Bank of Scotland. 

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She is set to provide a data-driven approach, providing views on key macroeconomic and market themes across various regions and asset classes.

As part of her new role, Bachra will join the trading and sales management team and report to Simon Manwaring.

Bachra joined the bank in 2014 and most recently led the UK rates strategy and non-dollar rates strategy.

Prior to NatWest, she worked at Credit Suisse, HSBC, and Royal Bank of Scotland. 

Simon Manwaring, head of trading and sales, commercial and institutional, NatWest said: “Our desk strategy team plays a vital role delivering high quality views to our customers and advising our trading desks and global sales team.

“Imogen brings a wealth of experience to the role and I’m delighted to have her leading the team.”

Earlier this month, NatWest Group named Jonathan Peberdy chief executive of NatWest Markets, following 11 months as deputy CEO.

Peberdy succeeds Robert Begbie, chief executive, commercial and institutional. NatWest Markets confirmed that Robert Begbie would assume the role of CEO permanently back in June 2020, having led the business on an interim basis since December 2019. 

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The appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

Jonathan Peberdy

Peberdy has been with the business for 25 years and has previously served as head of capital markets.

Peberdy succeeds Robert Begbie, chief executive, commercial and institutional. NatWest Markets confirmed that Robert Begbie would assume the role of CEO permanently back in June 2020, having led the business on an interim basis since December 2019.

At the time, his appointment was a key feature of the first major leadership restructure by Alison Rose, the chief executive of RBS.

Speaking to the appointment, Begbie said: “I’m delighted to appoint Jon to lead our Markets business, where he will play a crucial role in building out the next phase of the franchise. Jon brings a wealth of experience and skills to the role, and I look forward to working closely with him to build on our success.”

Following appointment, Peberdy will also be an executive director and a member of the NatWest Markets board.

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According to CobaltFX, the move is indicative of a trend among financial institutions seeking to optimise the disbursement of credit for FX trades and to improve market access and control.

BNP Paribas and NatWest have both been partners of CobaltFX over the years and by increasing their engagement by going live with Dynamic Credit, the two firms will manage credit exposures for their respective financial institutions, addressing overly manual processes.

“By providing a standardised and digitised approach, and aggregating IT infrastructure across multiple venues, Dynamic Credit gives banks unprecedented control to navigate fast-moving FX markets and proactively manage credit exposure,” said Joe Nash, digital COO for foreign exchange, rates and commodities at BNP Paribas.

“This is a very important step in delivering a solution for credit providers, taking full advantage of new technical advancements.”

Three months after United Fintech acquired Cobalt, a relaunch of the firm to CobaltFX was announced – along with a forthcoming digital asset arm – which chief executive Marc Levin described as a return to its roots for the FX business.

United Fintech stated that reducing risks through simplification and streamlining of credit disbursement will be paramount as CobaltFX aims to solves pain points within the FX industry.

“The problem CobaltFX is solving is essentially simplifying and streamlining many of the manual processes tied to allocation of credit which creates challenges for financial institutions. I.e. leveraging tech to enhance market stability,” said Andrew Coyne, founder of CobaltFX.

“Thus, correcting the supply of credit and at the same time deepening the availability of liquidity, CobaltFX’s Dynamic Credit technology ensures that for less credit deployed, there is more liquidity, administrative simplification and, essentially, superior market access control – the latter being a key factor for financial institutions around the world.”

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Nomura, UBS, and UniCredit have been fined

NatWest was not fined for its involvement as it revealed the cartel to the European Commission while Bank of America and Natixis were not fined as their infringement fell outside of the limitation period for imposing a fine. 

Portigon, formerly WestLB, was also not fined as it did not generate any net turnover in the last business year and this served to cap any potential fines placed on it.

Traders on the seven investment banks’ European government bond trading desks shared sensitive information, coordinated on prices and aligned their trading strategies via chatrooms and Bloomberg Terminals, said the Commission.

The manipulative activity included giving updates on their bidding strategy in the run up to the auctions of the Eurozone Member States when issuing Euro denominated bonds on the primary market, and on later on trading parameters on the secondary market. 

“A well-functioning European government bonds market is paramount both for the Eurozone Member States issuing these bonds to generate liquidity and the investors buying and trading them,” said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the commission.

“Our decision against Bank of America, Natixis, Nomura, RBS, UBS, UniCredit and WestLB sends a clear message that the Commission will not tolerate any kind of collusive behaviour. It is unacceptable, that in the middle of the financial crisis, when many financial institutions had to be rescued by public funding these investment banks colluded in this market at the expense of EU Member States.” 

This is the second bond trading cartel to be uncovered by the European Commission in less than two months after it fined Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole and Credit Suisse €28 million at the end of April. 

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Capitolis said it achieved a record $417 billion in notional for FX options novations during the second quarter, almost doubling the volume from the year prior.

At the same time, NatWest has become the latest market participant to become active on the Capitolis Novations platform, joining 50 other industry players also using the system to automate transaction times such as Citi, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Nomura, and Societe Generale.

“The Capitolis Novations platform has brought a new level of client service to the FX market by connecting a network of counterparties through a seamless and automated process that provides new efficiencies and cost benefits,” said global head of prime services and futures at Natwest, Marcus Butt. “We support Capitolis’ efforts to help create a more collaborative market environment.”

Founded two years ago by former CEO of EBS BrokerTec, Gil Mandelzis, former head of technology at Traiana Igor Teleshevsky, and Tom Glocer, formerly the CEO at Thomson Reuters, Capitolis has since recorded total transaction volume of $2.5 trillion in notional.

“Our strong performance in a challenging environment, as well as the addition of NatWest to the Novations community, reflects the tremendous growth of our platform,” said Mandelzis, CEO and founder of Capitolis. “We look forward to increasing the network of market participants who can utilise our optimisation tools to free up capital and boost their returns.”

In November last year, Capitolis secured $40 million in funding from Spark Capital, SVB Capital, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and S Capital in a Series B investment round.

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