Obituary
FIA is sad to report that long-time futures industry veteran Mark Bagan has passed away. Bagan was executive vice president for US futures strategy of Miami International Holdings and chief executive officer of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, the futures exchange that MIH acquired in 2020. Bagan began his career at MGEX in 1987, holding various positions until his appointment to president and CEO in July 2005. During his tenure, he was instrumental in leading the exchange to record volume levels for its flagship contract, futures on hard red spring wheat, and in the transition from open outcry to electronic trading. He oversaw the acquisition of MGEX by MIH and continued to lead MGEX following the closing of the transaction until his passing.
“We are deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of Mark,” said Thomas Gallagher, chairman and CEO of MIH. “Mark provided us with a strong foundation for our growth opportunities in futures markets, and his dedication, wisdom and unwavering commitment to MGEX and the entire MIAX organization have been an inspiration for us all. He will be greatly missed.”
People news
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has named former Securities and Futures Commission chairman Carlson Tong as its new chairman. Tong was elected to succeed Laura Cha, who retires after a six-year term. Tong served as chairman of the SFC from 2012 to 2018 after more than two decades at consultancy KPMG. He was also the chairman of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong from 2006 to 2008 and a member of its listing committee from 2002 to 2006. Tong will work closely with HKEX's recently appointed chief executive Bonnie Chan to capitalise on growth opportunities in the region. Chan took over from Nicolas Aguzin in March to become the first female chief of HKEX.
HKEX has also appointed Lilian Cheng as group chief compliance officer. Cheng succeeds Adam Singer, who has left HKEX to explore opportunities outside the group. Cheng is responsible for the compliance function across the HKEX Group in Hong Kong, Mainland China and internationally. She reports to HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan. Cheng joins HKEX from HSBC, where for the past decade she has held senior roles in the bank’s global compliance and risk management teams.
Sharon Shi has left GH Financials where she was group chief executive to join a major Chinese investment bank. GH Financial’s chair Jerome Kemp has been appointed interim CEO until a successor is appointed. Shi joined Futures First, the trading company owned by Hertshten Group which also owns GH Financials, in 2007 to run operations before being promoted to deputy managing director in 2009. She transferred to GH Financials in 2012 to be its Hong Kong-based managing director before moving to London in 2022 as group chief executive. Shi also previously was chair of FIA Asia, served on FIA's board of directors, and was a member of FIA’s Europe Advisory Board.
Michel Everaert, formerly head of EMEA at CME Group, has been appointed as the global head of e-commerce and digitalisation at interdealer broker Tradition. In this new role, Everaert will oversee the integration of advanced technologies, including AI, into Tradition's trading platforms as part of the company's strategic growth and innovation efforts. Everaert joined CME in 2011 as managing director OTC solutions and held several sales and business development roles over the year.
Marex has appointed Steve Rand as head of FCM operations, reporting to Pat Carey, Marex’s North America head of operations. Rand joins from the Chicago office of Societe Generale where he was head of Americas client-facing middle office operations.
Owain Lloyd has joined Flow Traders as director of technology and has been put forward to serve as the firm’s chief technology officer and executive director subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Lloyd joins Flow Traders from Numeus Research, a digital assets investment management firm, where he has served as CTO and partner since 2022. Prior to this, he was a founding partner at Mercury Trading and previously worked at JP Morgan as global head of electronic market making and at Morgan Stanley as global head of automated market making technology.
Hertshten Group, which owns prop trading firm Futures First and clearer GH Financials, has signed an agreement to acquire London-based prop trader OSTC Markets. In a statement the firms said that the OSTC Markets business will continue to be led by Michael Shirley who will report to Elad Hertshten, managing director of Futures First.
IEX Group has appointed Bryan Harkins as its president, Ronan Ryan as its chief operating officer and Florian Seifferer as its chief strategy officer. Harkins previously held roles as the head of markets at Cboe Global Markets overseeing equities, derivatives and foreign exchange trading. He was also the president of BIDS trading, head of markets at BATS Global Markets, the COO of Direct Edge, and the chief revenue officer of Trumid. IEX’s co-founder Ryan previously served as president and Seifferer previously served as COO, IEX Digital Assets.
ASX has announced that Wayne Byres, the former chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, has been appointed as non-executive director to its board. Byres also serves as a non-executive director on the board of Macquarie Bank. Byres left APRA in October 2022 after eight years as chair. In this role he served on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board and was a member of the Australian Council of Financial Regulators. He also served as the Secretary General of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision from 2012 to 2014.
Ralf Prinzler has joined European Commodity Clearing as director of risk management, effective 1 July, and, subject to regulatory approval, as chief risk officer from the start of next year. Prinzler was previously head of risk controlling at KfW. He replaces Clemens Völkert, who has been the ECC’s chief risk officer since 2021.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has appointed Ted Kaouk as the agency’s first chief artificial intelligence officer. Kaouk currently serves as chief data officer and director of the CFTC’s Division of Data. In his newly expanded role as chief data and AI officer, Kaouk will be responsible for leading the development of the CFTC’s enterprise data and artificial intelligence strategy. Before joining the CFTC in December 2023, Kaouk served as the chief data officer and responsible official for AI at the US government's Office of Personnel Management.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has appointed Gan Kim Yong, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, as chairman of its board of directors until June 2026. Gan has served as the deputy chairman of MAS since July 2023. He succeeds Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, who has relinquished the role and is stepping down from the board.
Vojtech Belling has been reappointed as vice chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority for another two-and-a-half-year term. Belling, the executive director of the Financial Market Regulation and International Cooperation Department at the Czech National Bank, initially took on the role in November 2022.
Erik Thedéen, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, has been named chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Thedéen takes over from Pablo Hernández de Cos, who has led the Committee since March 2019. Thedéen's term begins on 11 June 2024 and will last for three years, with the possibility of one extension.
The Financial Stability Board has appointed Martin Moloney as its new deputy secretary general, effective 1 September 2024. Moloney will succeed Rupert Thorne, who will be retiring after almost 20 years with the organisation, Moloney is currently secretary general of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), a position to which he was appointed in September 2021. His successor at IOSCO has not yet been announced.
TP ICAP has appointed Natalie Lowenstein as global head of rates product. She joins TP ICAP from MarketAxess where she was an emerging markets product team manager. Before this, Lowenstein was a rates product manager at Tradeweb and worked in Deutsche Bank’s fixed income division, specialising in interest rate swaps and options.
Jonathan Yam has joined digital assets prime brokerage FalconX as head of trading technology. He was previously chief technology officer at Nasdaq Private Market.
