Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has announced several senior management changes, including the retirement of Wilfried Yiu, the deputy CEO, co-chief operating officer and co-head of markets, at the end of the year. Yiu will also retire as chief executive of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE). Vanessa Lau will become the sole chief operating officer in addition to her existing role as group chief financial officer. She will also become the chief executive of SEHK and HKFE.
In addition, HKEX has announced that Xu Liang will join the group as head of operations in February 2025. Xu will report to Lau and will direct the group's Hong Kong market operations, including trading, post-trade, surveillance and monitoring functions. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs for 20 years, most recently as managing director and co-head of Asia-Pacific operations. HKEx has also promoted Glenda So, currently co-head of markets, to head of platform and market structure development. She will lead a new division focused on supporting the group’s delivery of new platforms and initiatives that will further enhance the diversity and efficiency of its markets. So will continue to help oversee the markets division until a new head of markets is appointed.
Isabelle Girolami is set to leave her role as chief executive officer of LCH Ltd to take up a newly created role as head of corporate and institutional banking at NatWest. Girolami has served as CEO of the London-based clearinghouse since 2019. She will leave in the spring of 2025, an LCH spokesperson confirmed, adding that her replacement at LCH has not yet been communicated. Before joining LCH in November 2019, Girolami served as deputy CEO of Crédit Agricole CIB, where she oversaw global markets.
LCH also announced that Michel Semaan has joined as global head of its RepoClear service. He joins the clearinghouse with more than 25 years of experience in repo markets. He previously worked at BBVA as global head of securities financing. Earlier in his career, he worked at Crédit Agricole and Nomura.
Lee Betsill, the chief risk officer of CME Clearing, will leave the US exchange group in April next year after fifteen years with the firm. Betsill has been CME Clearing’s chief risk officer since August 2015, when he moved to Chicago from London where he had been the CEO of CME Clearing Europe for two years. Before joining CME Group in 2010, Betsill served as head of clearing and operations at OMX in Stockholm and London. His first job was on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced he will nominate Paul Atkins, a conservative lawyer and a former member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to lead the agency as chairman next year, replacing outgoing SEC chair Gary Gensler. As SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008, Atkins often opposed regulations he viewed as burdensome on the industry and harmful to competition. After leaving the SEC, he founded Washington consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, which helps banks, trading firms and fintechs navigate US regulators.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, the post-trade market infrastructure for the financial industry, has appointed Michael Winnike as managing director, clearing and securities services (CSS), strategy and market solutions, a newly created role. He reports to Brian Steele, managing director and president of CSS. Winnike most recently served as director, market structure at BlackRock, leading the firm’s Treasury clearing program. He also led development of BlackRock’s clearing strategy.
Bank of America has appointed Simona Composto as director of futures and options, over-the-counter clearing, FX prime brokerage and fixed income prime brokerage sales, based in London. Composto joins Bank of America from Goldman Sachs, where she has spent more than 26 years. Most recently she was executive director of prime services sales, before which she was executive director of listed derivatives sales.
Rutger Vijgen has joined ABN Amro Clearing Bank as global regulatory affairs and government relations advisor. He previously worked at FIA European Principal Traders Association as the policy advisor, sustainable finance and digital assets, and as a public affairs advisor.
R.J. O'Brien & Associates, an independent futures brokerage and clearing firm, has appointed John Robbins to the new role of global chief compliance officer. Based in New York, Robbins reports to Melissa Zierk, RJO’s general counsel. Robbins most recently served as chief compliance officer at Apex Fintech Solutions and Apex Clearing. Before that, he was senior director and CCO at ICE Data Services. He has also held compliance roles at Babson Capital (Barings), AIG, Apex, Deutsch Bank and GE.
Janina Marks has joined European markets operator Euronext as head of sales and business development for derivatives and clearing. She is based in the group's London office. Marks previously worked at UBS for 14 years in several roles, including global head of derivatives clearing.
Britannia Global Markets, a London-based brokerage firm, has appointed Martin Ryan as chief operating officer. He replaces Jodie Kelsall, who has been named chief of staff. Ryan was chief operating officer of TP ICAP from 2018 to 2023. Before that, he held several roles at London Stock Exchange Group, including group head of operations at LCH Clearnet. He has also held roles at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan, where he began his career in the markets sales and trading business.
Britannia also has hired metals trader Neil Welsh as its new head of metals. Welsh rejoins the firm from Triland Metals, where he worked for 18 months. Before that, he spent more than three years at Britannia in LME trading and sales, after joining the firm from Birch Metals Company where he worked for 11 years. Before Birch, Welsh worked at ABN Amro in Sydney and ADM Investor Services in London.
EDX Markets, a digital asset technology firm that combines a trading venue with a central clearinghouse, has announced that current CEO Jamil Nazarali has been appointed executive chair of the EDX board and Tony Acuña-Rohter has been appointed CEO. Acuña-Rohter previously served as EDX’s chief technology officer, leading technology and information security operations since joining in 2022. He also leads EDX Clearing, the firm’s central clearinghouse company. Before EDX, Acuña-Rohter was chief technology officer of ErisX, part of Cboe Digital. As executive chair, Nazarali will work closely with EDX’s board of directors and executive management team to provide guidance and strategic direction to support the company’s growth and performance.
SIX, the Swiss markets operator, has appointed Bjørn Sibbern as chief executive officer effective 1 January 2025. Since the beginning of 2024, Sibbern has led the international exchange business of SIX as global head of exchanges and as a member of the group executive board. He has more than two decades of experience in capital markets, including positions at Nasdaq, OMX Exchanges and E*Trade Bank Denmark. He succeeds Jos Dijsselhof, who has stepped down to pursue a new professional opportunity in the Middle East. Since joining SIX as CEO in 2018, Dijsselhof has played a key role in developing the company commercially and expanding its international presence. Under his leadership, SIX acquired the Spanish Stock Exchange BME, along with other international investments. He will remain at SIX until the end of February 2025.
Gerald Walker has joined the London office of Citadel as an operations manager in the company's futures and options clearing group. He previously worked at Tower Research as global head of clearing and operations for two years. Before that, he worked at ABN Amro Clearing Bank for almost nine years in operational and client service roles in Chicago, London and Amsterdam. He began his career at CME Group in 2006, working his way up from market reporter to manager in global operations.
DV Trading, one of the biggest market makers across the oil industry, has hired fuel and natural gas traders as it expands its proprietary energy trading business. Bryndon Kline, previously with Trafigura, has joined as a fuel trader, and Nate Costello, most recently at Aramco Trading, has joined as a refined products strategist. The firm has also added Ryan Sharma, previously at Belvedere Trading, as a natural gas trader.
Chris Smith, who previously headed regulatory programmes and reporting at the London Metal Exchange, has joined ClearToken, a digital asset clearinghouse. Smith worked at LME for more than 10 years, including as interim COO and head of clearing, post-trade and data office operations at LME Clear, among other senior roles. Before LME, he worked at interdealer broker ICAP as a middle office operations manager. He started his career as a derivatives trader at Refco Trading Services before joining Schneider Trading Associates as a derivatives broker.
After 45 years in the futures and options business, Neil Lustyk has retired from CME Group where he was an executive director and managed the trading floor at 141 West Jackson Blvd. He started out as a floor broker at the Chicago Board of Trade before holding key positions at CME Group from 2002.
big xyt, an AI analytics company for financial markets, has appointed Phil Lemmon as head of TCA sales EMEA to support clients in leveraging advanced transaction cost analysis solutions to optimise trading performance, meet regulatory requirements and reduce operational complexities. He was previously head of global sales at ISS LiquidMetrix and commercial director at SteelEye.
The law firm of Lowenstein Sandler has announced that Ryne Miller, former general counsel at FTX US, has joined as a partner. He will be based in the firm's New York office and will serve as chair of its commodities, futures and derivatives practice and as co-chair of its crypto practice. Before joining FTX, he was a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. Prior to that, he worked at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, including a stint as legal counsel to CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler.
