Obituaries
MarketVoice is sad to report the passing of Maurice Farhart, head of international sales at ASX. Farhart worked at ASX in a variety of roles for 21 years, both in Sydney and Chicago. In a statement, ASX said Farhart “was a highly respected expert in financial markets, whose insights and expertise were valued by colleagues and peers around the world. Beyond his professional accomplishments, Maurice was a man of many talents. He was a restaurateur who owned many culinary establishments, had a deep appreciation for fine red wine, and was also an accomplished golfer, pursuits that brought him joy and fulfillment. His love for his family – his wife, three children and four grandchildren, was evident to all who knew him. Maurice's legacy at ASX is profound. He was not only a mentor and a leader but also a friend to many. His presence, wisdom, and kindness will be deeply missed by all of us. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time.”
MarketVoice is also sad to report the passing of Scott Eisner, a veteran financial derivatives executive. Eisner served as the chief financial officer for trading firms including Hehmeyer Trading + Investments and HTG Capital Partners, and was the CFO for Integral Technology from 2017 to 2021. He started his career at Western Trading Company in 1982 and worked at FCT Group, ABN Amro and Iowa Grain Company during his career, which was marked by integrity and expertise, earning him admiration from colleagues and employers alike.
People news
Jim Esposito, the former co-head of Goldman Sach’s global banking and markets division, is set to join market maker Citadel Securities as president in September. He will relocate from London to Miami for the role and will report to Citadel Securities’ chief executive Peng Zhao. Esposito was most recently co-head of Goldman’s global banking and markets business alongside Dan Dees and Ashok Varadhan and has held various senior roles during his 30-year career at the bank. He was previously chief operating officer and co-head of its financing group, and also had a stint leading Goldman’s trading business. He started out in sales for emerging market debt in 1995.
LSEG’s European clearinghouse LCH SA has appointed Marcus Robinson as head of CDSClear and head of DigitalAssetClear. The move follows the departure earlier this year of Frank Soussan, who served as global head of CDSClear and head of SA EquityClear and CommodityClear. Robinson will lead CDSClear in the next phase of international expansion, particularly across the US following the launch of client clearing to US firms in February 2024. He will also focus on bringing to market DigitalAssetClear and its subsequent development following recent regulatory approvals. In his new roles, Robinson reports to Corentine Poilvet-Clédière, CEO, LCH SA, and joins the LCH SA leadership team. He was previously head of strategy for LSEG Post Trade, and before that was head of Asia Pacific for LCH, where he led the clearing service’s expansion in the region.
Andrew Batchelor, global chief operating officer and head of product at LCH ForexClear, has been promoted to chief executive of the FX clearing service. Batchelor replaces James Pearson who is moving up to run foreign exchange at LSE Group. Pearson replaces Neill Penney who is leaving the business. Batchelor joined ForexClear in 2021 after more than 20 years at Barclays.
CME Group has hired John Ricci as managing director and global head of agricultural products, based in Chicago. Ricci replaces Tim Andriesen, who moved to Marex last year, and reports to Derek Sammann, the global head of commodities markets. Ricci most recently served as global head of ETF trading at Invesco. Prior to that, he was at BlackRock, responsible for equity trading across developed, emerging and frontier markets and commodity trading for the mutual fund and ETF complex.
Grupo Bolsa Mexicana de Valores has appointed Jorge Alegria Formoso as its new CEO. Alegria replaces Jose-Oriol Bosch Par, who is leaving after nine years of leading the exchange group. In a statement, BMV says the appointment is in accordance with a succession plan and that Alegria will soon take office, while Bosch will remain during a transition period. Alegria previously was head of Mexico at CME Group. Before that, he was senior managing director, markets operations at BMV, and served as the chief executive officer of MexDer, its derivatives exchange subsidiary, from 2003 to 2014.
Ugo Bassi, the director of financial markets within the European Commission’s Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA), will swap places with Martin Merlin, who runs the banking, insurance and financial crime unit within the department. The move is slated for 1 September.
The International Organization of Securities Commissions has re-elected Rostin Behnam, the chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as vice chair for another two-year term. As a member of the IOSCO board’s management team, Behnam helps guide IOSCO’s policy development and overall management. In addition to steering the CFTC’s engagement in an array of policy work within IOSCO, Behnam has co-led IOSCO’s Financial Stability Engagement Group and currently co-chairs the Carbon Markets Workstream within IOSCO’s Sustainable Finance Task Force.
Société Générale has appointed Laura Schisgall as head of compliance for Société Générale Americas. She previously was general counsel at Société Générale Americas, responsible for managing the legal teams in New York, Canada and Brazil. She had been General Counsel since 2012.
Nancy Stern has joined Simplex Investments, a Chicago-based principal trading firm, as managing director and general counsel. Stern was previously general counsel and chief of staff at ABN AMRO Clearing Bank in Chicago. Before that, she was CEO of electronic trading firm Allston Holdings. Before Allston, Stern served as an attorney and partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman and Gardner Carton & Douglas, now part of Faegre Baker Daniels, for a combined 17 years.
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, has appointed Josh Woods, Citadel Securities’ chief technology officer, to its board of directors. He will serve on the board's technology committee.
FIA Japan held its 36th Annual General Meeting on 22 May and elected 16 board members and several officers for FY2024. These include Richard Clairmont from ABN AMRO Clearing Tokyo as chairman, executive committee member and Koichiro Ohashi from Greenberg Traurig Tokyo as president, executive committee member.
IPC, a provider of trading communications, electronic trading and infrastructure technology, has announced that as part of a planned leadership transition Kurt Adams will succeed Bob Santella as CEO. Adams most recently served as CEO of Optum Financial. Additionally, Stuart Harvey has been appointed chairman of IPC’s board of directors and Michael Chin has been named an IPC board member. Harvey previously served as president of Piper Sandler. Chin currently serves as CEO at Duco.
Marex has appointed Conor Foley as its new head of business development for security-based swaps. Foley previously was managing director, derivatives at Clear Street after joining Clear Street’s compliance and legal teams in November 2021. Before that he was global head, government relations and public policy at Norton Rose Fulbright.
NinjaTrader, a platform for retail futures trading, has added four executives to its leadership team. Ryan Pitylak joins as executive vice president of growth. He previously was founder, chief marketing officer and chief growth officer at ZenBusiness. Aditya Nishandar has been appointed as chief technology officer. He previously supported trading at Goldman Sachs and worked at Carta, an equity issuance and trading platform. John O'Neil has assumed the role of general manager of evaluation services. He previously led FXCM through a period of global expansion. Michael Krafft has joined as vice president of product following a career at TrueML, Alight Solutions and American Express.
