Obituaries
FIA regrets to report that former London Metal Exchange Chairman Sir Brian Bender has passed away at the age of 72. Bender served as LME chairman from 2010 until his retirement in 2019 and steered the exchange through a transformative period leading up to and following its acquisition by HKEX Group in 2012.
“Sir Brian was a calm and measured leader, and greatly respected by those who knew him,” said Matthew Chamberlain, chief executive of LME in a statement. "More than that, he was a wonderful mentor and friend to many at the exchange, and he will be greatly missed."
Before LME, Bender held several senior positions in the British civil service, serving as permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Those who wish to make a donation to the Motor Neurone Disease Association in his memory may do so at: https://brianbender.muchloved.com/
Former New York Board of Trade Director James Calcagnini has sadly passed away after a battle with ALS. “JCAL” as he was known by his peers on the trading floor, also served on several committees for ICE Futures US and its predecessor exchanges, the New York Board of Trade and the Coffee, Sugar, and Cocoa Exchange. These included the Executive Floor Committee, Membership Committee and Business Conduct Committee.
Most notably, Calcagnini spent many years running the exchange’s broker training program and was responsible for introducing many current and former professionals to the futures and options industry. He also served as a board member and treasurer of Pacific House in Stamford, CT for nearly a decade, aiming to end homelessness in Lower Fairfield County. He was named their 2018 gala honoree in recognition of his commitment to the cause.
Those who wish to make a donation in his memory may do so at: https://ccals.org, https://teamgleason.org and CalcagniniALSFoundation.org
People news
Intercontinental Exchange has made sweeping changes to its top management, including the two most senior positions at the New York Stock Exchange. Stacey Cunningham, who became the first woman to lead the NYSE in 2018, will step aside as president. Jeffrey Sprecher, ICE’s co-founder and chief executive will relinquish his role as chair of the NYSE, which he has held since ICE bought the exchange in 2013.
Lynn Martin, president of ICE’s fixed income and data services business, will take over from Cunningham as president of NYSE in January. Sprecher will be replaced as chair by Sharon Bowen, a former commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a member of the ICE and NYSE boards. Sprecher said Cunningham was “beginning a new chapter in her career” and would join NYSE’s board of directors. Martin will continue to serve as chair of ICE's fixed income and data services to help guide the business as Amanda Hindlian, currently the global head of capital markets at the NYSE, becomes its new president.
In other NYSE moves, Hope Jarkowski, formerly the co-head of government relations at ICE and currently the NYSE’s head of equities, will become NYSE's general counsel, taking over from Elizabeth King who will continue to serve as ICE's chief regulatory officer and will take on additional responsibilities in the area of sustainable investing.
Mark Wassersug, the chief operating officer for the entire group, will transition to a new role as the company’s chief information officer. Stuart Williams, currently the president of ICE Futures Europe, will take over from Wassersug as chief operating officer, reporting to ICE President Ben Jackson. Williams will remain in the post of president of ICE Futures Europe until a successor is identified and in place. As part of William's transition to COO, Trabue Bland, currently president of ICE Futures US will oversee all of ICE’s futures exchanges. Adding to Bland's team, Jennifer Ilkiw, now the head of ICE Asia Pacific, will relocate to New York to serve as president of ICE Futures US.
In addition, Chris Edmonds, who leads ICE's clearing businesses, will see his role expanding as chief development officer, adding oversight of ICE’s marketing and communications to his other duties.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed Haoxiang Zhu as director of the agency’s Division of Trading and Markets. Zhu is currently a professor of finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also serves as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. David Saltiel, who had served as acting director has been appointed as one of the Division’s deputy directors and will continue to lead the Office of Analytics and Research.
Mark Phelps is joining futures brokerage and clearing firm R.J. O’Brien & Associates as managing director, EMEA for its London-based affiliate, R.J. O’Brien Limited. He will report to Gerald Corcoran, RJO chairman and CEO. Phelps was previously group CEO of derivatives clearing firm G.H. Financials where he worked for nearly 10 years. He also served as regional CEO of GHF LLC and as G.H. Financials' global head of marketing and sales.
Phelps started his career in 1997 as an exchange pit official at what was then the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe). Over the next several years he played a leading role in the exchange’s migration from open outcry to electronic trading. He served as a senior account manager for the exchange, was appointed head of sales for Euronext.Liffe and held senior business development roles for NYSE Liffe.
Commissioner Dawn Stump of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced that she will not seek renomination when her term ends in April 2022. Stump said she will remain working on the Commission as replacements are considered.
Brooks Stevens has reportedly left his position in clearing at Bank of America after nearly three decades at the organization. He most recently served as managing director and European head of senior relationship management for futures and options and over-the-counter clearing. A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment.
Marex Group, a global energy, commodities and financial markets broker, has gained regulatory approval to operate and open an office in Sydney. Nick Burke, head of APAC sales for Marex Solutions, will lead the team at Marex Australia to provide local clients with OTC derivative products to hedge commodity and foreign exchange price risk. He will oversee the expansion of the product set to include futures execution, clearing services and broader OTC offerings.
Cboe Global Markets has appointed Albert Torstensson as its new director of APAC market data sales for its data and access solutions division. Based in Hong Kong, he reports to Kevin Maude, head of market data sales at Cboe Global Markets. Torstensson joins from AlphaSights where he served as director of business development. Prior to that, he was a senior sales executive and project manager at Worldwide Business Research.
Alexandra Hachmeister, the former head of market data services at Deutsche Börse, is joining the Deutsche Bundesbank as director-general for Economic Education, University of Applied Sciences and International Central Bank Dialogue. Hachmeister worked at Deutsche Börse for more than 20 years in senior roles including chief regulatory officer, head of regulatory strategy and deputy head of global public affairs.
Quantile Technologies, a portfolio optimisation services provider which recently agreed to be acquired by London Stock Exchange Group, has appointed Guido Van Ingen as managing director of the Netherlands office and head of relationship management. Van Ingen, who reports to Quantile CEO Andrew Williams, joins the company from ING, where he worked for 10 years, lastly as head of transaction services sales Netherlands. Prior to that, he was head of financial markets corporate sales EMEA. He has also worked at Merrill Lynch and ABN Amro Bank. Quantile selected Amsterdam as its European headquarters in 2020.
In other moves, Quantile has hired Esben Urbak and Rami Atieh as senior product managers, reporting to Varqa Abyaneh, chief product officer. Urbak joins from MUFG Securities, where he worked for nine years and was responsible for managing the main exotics portfolio and executing structured interest rate deals with clients globally. Atieh has joined from Crédit Agricole CIB, where he spent eight years in a variety of roles, including head of FX options Americas. Previously, he worked in France, as a quantitative developer at Lunalogic Group, and spent time in structuring and development roles at HSBC and Société Générale.
BestEx Research Group, a provider of algorithmic execution and measurement services for futures, equities, and FX trading, has appointed Hector Robles as managing director of business development to expand the firm's futures business. Robles will report to founder and CEO Hitesh Mittal. Robles joins from RCM-X, where he headed distribution of its algorithmic and quantitative trading products. Before that, he was responsible for the distribution of UBS's algorithmic execution strategies in futures, FX and fixed income across the Americas and served as global head of electronic trading for futures at Mizuho Securities. Robles also held senior sales and product roles at Quantitative Brokers.
Adam Kezsbom has joined the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-regulatory organization for the US securities industry, as associate general counsel. Most recently, Kezsbom served as the director for regulatory policy in the Washington office of Barclays. Before that, he served for more than seven years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Xpansiv, the global marketplace for ESG commodities, has appointed Russell Karas as head of carbon market development, joining the international carbon team to expand the company’s portfolio of standardized carbon contracts. Karas most recently served as senior director for CME Group, managing the company’s environmental and North American oil and refined products businesses. He oversaw the launch of several exchange-cleared environmental contracts, including CBL GEO and N-GEO futures.
Fintech company Wematch has hired Christine Lowe as head of client coverage. Lowe was previously an equity finance trader at BNP Paribas. Before that, she was an equity finance trader at Deutsche Bank.
