Obituary
Sir Roger Gifford, the Lord Mayor of London in 2012-13 and a well-respected banker, passed away on 25 May at the age of 65. Gifford was most recently chair of the Green Finance Institute, an independent organisation that focuses on the growing contribution of the financial sector to the G20 climate agenda. Born in St Andrews, Scotland, and educated at Trinity College, Oxford, Gifford started his career in finance at SG Warburg between 1978 and 1982, before joining Swedish bank SEB. He moved to Tokyo in 1994 to lead the bank’s Japan business before returning to head its UK operations until 2017. He was knighted in 2014 for services to international business, culture and the City.
People News
Nicolas Aguzin began work as the new chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing at the end of May, the first non-ethnic Chinese person to run the market operator since it was founded in 2000. Aguzin, who will serve a term of three years, was previously CEO of JP Morgan’s international private bank. While not from Hong Kong, or mainland Chinese, the Argentine-native is well-connected in the region after serving as JP Morgan’s chairman and CEO of Asia Pacific from 2012 to 2020. Prior to this, from 2005 to 2012, he headed JP Morgan Latin America and held various senior investment banking roles after joining the bank as a financial analyst in 1990.
The European Securities and Markets Authority has officially appointed Natasha Cazenave as its executive director, taking over ESMA's second-highest post for an initial five-year term. She joins from the French markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, where she was deputy secretary-general and head of the policy and international affairs directorate. Cazenave replaces Verena Ross, who has served the maximum 10 years allowed and is in the running to become the next chair of ESMA.
Peter Hiom, deputy CEO of the Australian Securities Exchange, has stepped down after 23 years of service to pursue his interest in fintech and blockchain technology, the exchange said in a statement. Hiom is joining Motive Partners, a fintech-focused private equity firm, as an industry partner. Motive Partners was founded by Rob Heyvaert, the founder of Capco, and includes JP Morgan veteran Blythe Masters as an industry partner. At ASX, Hiom was responsible for the development of several businesses, including trading services, derivatives and OTC markets and equity post-trade services. He also spearheaded ASX’s development of distributed ledger technology to replace the CHESS settlement system.
Barbara Novick, the co-founder of BlackRock, will serve as an independent director on the board of the American Financial Exchange, a trading platform for short-term funding that was founded by Richard Sandor. Novick co-founded BlackRock in 1988 and transitioned from vice chairman to senior advisor in February 2021. From the inception of the firm in 1988 to 2008, she headed the global client group and in 2009 she established BlackRock's global public policy group to provide a voice for investors. AFX is the source for the Ameribor interest rate benchmark, one of several contenders to replace Libor in the US interest rate markets.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has named David Saltiel as acting director of the agency's trading and markets division, which regulates major market players including broker-dealers and stock exchanges. Saltiel replaces Christian Sabella, who concluded his tenure at the agency on 2 June. Saltiel has served as the head of the office of analytics and research in the Division of Trading and Markets since joining the SEC in 2016. He was previously chief economist at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, has hired David Ye as chief risk officer and a member of OCC’s management committee. Before joining OCC, Ye served in a variety of leadership roles including chief risk officer at Guardian Life Insurance of America, chief risk officer at State Street Global Markets and Global Exchange, and chief risk officer at Nomura Holding Americas. He replaces John "J.J." Fennell, who will be leaving OCC on 2 July to pursue a new opportunity.
London Stock Exchange Group has announced that David Craig, group head, data and analytics, and CEO, Refinitiv will leave LSEG at end of 2021. Andrea Remyn Stone, chief product officer, data and analytics, will become group head, data and analytics, effective 1 July.
LCH has appointed James Pearson as head of ForexClear based in London. Pearson will be responsible for LCH’s FX derivatives clearing service, reporting to Isabelle Girolami, CEO, LCH Ltd. His previous roles include global head of FX trading at RBS, global head of G10 FX spot trading and EMEA head of emerging markets FX at Nomura and Lehman Brothers. He has also worked on FX spot and NDF trading desks at Citi and HSBC. Paddy Boyle, who had been head of ForexClear, stepped down from the role in February after more than four years.
Singapore Exchange has appointed Pol de Win as head of global sales and origination, effective 1 July. He will succeed Chew Sutat who will be retiring after 14 years with the company on 31 July. de Win was previously managing director with Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, heading Southeast Asia financial institutions and fintech (Asia ex-Japan).
Broadridge Financial Solutions has appointed Ian Strudwick as head of Asia Pacific to support its expansion in the region. Based in Singapore, he reports to Samir Pandiri, president of Broadridge International. Strudwick joins from TD Securities, where he was most recently head of global operations and business services for APAC. Strudwick’s position follows the appointment of David Ingleson as chief operating officer for APAC earlier this year.
Lyvian Wong has joined Deutsche Börse as a business development manager, Sales and Channel management in its Singapore office. In the banking, financial services and insurance space, Wong previously worked at FIA Tech for five years as a business development manager covering Asia Pacific, as well as at Trading Technologies and SGX.
Melanie Cristi has joined market maker Citadel Securities as head of fixed income, currencies and commodities relationship management for the Americas, based in New York. Cristi was previously an executive director and head of FX market structure and strategic content and head of Americas FX e-sales at Morgan Stanley. Before joining the bank in 2012 she was director of sales at Quantitative Brokers.
Tourmaline Partners, a trading firm providing outsourced trading services to asset managers, has hired Chris Arkin as a senior trader based in Stamford, Connecticut. Arkin was most recently head trader at Antipodean Advisors. Earlier he co-founded outsourced trading boutique Clearview Global Trading, and previously held senior equities derivatives trading positions at Susquehanna International Group and long-short fund North Sound Capital. He began his career as a trader in the S&P 500 index options pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
