People moves: Hassani leaves Santander for CapGemini

Citi makes several hires; new Americas head for Barclays; ADS Securities names new COO

Bertrand Hassani, global head of research and innovation for Santander’s risk division, has left the bank to join consultancy CapGemini as its chief data scientist. In his new role, Hassani confirms he will be in charge of developing data analytics-based tools for the firm’s clients, as well as spearheading a number of cross-industry projects. He will be based in Paris.

Hassani spent five years at Santander. In his most recent role, he was responsible for developing bespoke measurement methodologies for financial and non-financial risks, including operational risk modelling, and integrating them into Santander’s decision-making process. 

He initially served as head of major risk management and scenario analysis at Santander UK, and subsequently as head of change and consolidated risk management. He was then made group head of advanced and alternative analytics, whereafter he relocated to Madrid to take up his most recent role. 

Hassani is also an associate researcher at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and an honorary reader in computer science at University College London. 

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Robert Smolen has joined Citi as head of exotic equity derivatives trading for Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea). He previously worked for JP Morgan, where he was in charge of index correlation and hybrid trading. He will now oversee Citi’s global hybrids trading team.

Smolen, who has worked in the industry for over 15 years, will be based in London, reporting to Rob Pitcher and Cornelius Griffin, the bank’s newly appointed global co-heads of exotic equity derivatives trading, and Sada Venkatesan, who oversees Citi’s cross-asset global investment strategies trading teams as well as the fund derivatives business and global hybrid trading.

Separately, the bank has named Amit Raja its head of credit markets trading for Emea. Raja’s previous role was global head of distressed credit. He will report to Carey Lathrop and Mickey Bhatia, global co-heads of credit markets, and Leo Arduini, head of markets for Emea.

Raja will continue in his role as head of European leveraged trading and distressed credit trading in the US. The US team that previously reported to him will now report to Brian Archer, Citi’s head of global credit trading, based in New York.

Raja replaces Fred Jallot, who left in April. Jallot has joined Nomura as head of global markets for Emea, succeeding Yutaka Nakajima who moved to the role of co-head of global markets in early April. Jallot will work from the London office, reporting to Steve Ashley, head of wholesale and global markets, and Jonathan Lewis, head of Emea. 

Citi has also hired Sabrina Wilson as global head of electronic and algorithmic trading and head of futures, clearing and collateral in Emea.

Wilson will replace Silas Findley in the Emea role and assume additional responsibilities overseeing global electronic and algorithmic trading. Findley has moved into a senior role in credit trading at Citi.

Wilson joins from Deutsche Bank, where she headed up electronic and algorithmic trading globally and the listed derivatives and markets clearing business in Emea.

She will take up the new position in early September and will be based in London, reporting to Jerome Kemp, global head of futures, clearing and collateral, and Chris Cox, Emea head of prime, futures and securities services.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on Wilson’s departure. 

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Barclays has promoted Richard Haworth to chief executive of its Americas business, replacing Joe McGrath, who becomes global head of banking. McGrath assumed his new role in May and retained his role as chief executive for the Americas until Haworth’s appointment.

Haworth has served as deputy chief executive of the Americas for Barclays and its intermediate holding company (IHC) for the past year. His successor is yet to be announced.

In his new role, Haworth will be in charge of Barclays’ Americas businesses, overseeing the bank’s conduct and control standards. He will also serve as chief executive of the US bank holding company that was created to consolidate Barclays’ US subsidiaries. Haworth will become a member of the Barclays International executive committee and the IHC board.

Haworth will be based in New York, reporting to Tim Throsby, Barclays’ corporate and investment bank chief executive who joined from JP Morgan in September 2016. 

Barclays has also hired Graham Wayne, previously head of EU electronic trading at broker KCG Europe. Prior to taking up that role in 2014, he was head of product for European execution services at Knight Capital, which later merged with Getco to form KCG.

He will join Barclays’ electronic product team as director of electronic equities product in September, reporting to Nej D’Jelal, head of electronic equities product, Emea, who oversees electronic trading supervision and product development. The Emea electronic equities business is run jointly by D’Jelal and Eric Krueger, who is also Emea head of cash execution sales. Wayne will be based in London.

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Bing Chen has been appointed chief executive for BNP Paribas China following the retirement of Peter Kwok, who served three years in the role. 

Chen was previously BNPP’s head of corporate and business development for Greater China. Before joining the bank, Chen spent 20 years in a number of management positions across banking, trading and structured finance businesses. Chen will report to Paul Yang, BNPP’s head of Greater China, based in Shanghai. 

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Colin Lancaster is set to join Citadel later this year as head of macro strategies. He will be responsible for building a second macro business for the investment firm.

Lancaster joins Citadel from Balyasny Asset Management where he served as head of macro strategies and co-head of the firm’s London office for the past six years. Before joining the firm, he was chief operating officer at hedge fund Stark Investments.

Lancaster joins a procession of senior hires by Citadel, including Sebastian Barrack who joined the firm in April as head of commodities from Macquarie, and Eric Felder, head of fundamental strategies at hedge fund Magnetar, who will now head a team investing across different asset classes for Citadel.

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Societe Generale’s head of equity and derivatives trading in the UK and head of index flow trading, Dan Cohen, is leaving the bank. He joined SocGen in 2016 as an index flow trader after graduating from engineering school Centrale Paris. Cohen was based in London. 

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John Shay, head of Nasdaq’s global fixed income and commodities, has left the exchange. He was based in New York, reporting to Hans-Ole Jochumsen, Nasdaq’s president.

Shay joined the company in October 2016 from Virtu Financial, a high-frequency trading firm, where he served as senior vice-president for global markets. In that role, he was responsible for managing vendor and trading relationships with a focus on fixed income, currencies and commodities.

Nasdaq’s global equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities team will now be combined under a common leadership structure, headed by Tom Wittman, global trading and market services chief.

Before joining Virtu in 2007, Shay and Vincent Viola co-founded International Derivatives Clearing Group (IDCG), where Shay subsequently worked as chief marketing officer. He was in charge of overseeing sales, as well as managing buy-side, sell-side and clearing member relationships. IDCG was later acquired by LCH.Clearnet.

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Marco Baggioli has been promoted to chief operating officer of ADS Securities. He previously served as the firm’s global head of brokerage. As chief operating officer, he will be responsible for the firm’s operations, legal and compliance, product and change, IT, marketing and HR.

Baggioli will remain in ADS Securities’ Abu Dhabi head office. He will report to the firm’s chief executive Philippe Ghanem. Baggioli will also be responsible for ADS Securities’ London and Hong Kong subsidiaries as a board director.

Baggioli joined the brokerage firm in July 2015 as chief operating officer for the London office, before relocating to Abu Dhabi a year later. Before joining ADS Securities, he served as global head of forex prime brokerage at BNP Paribas and held senior management positions at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan.

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The IFRS Foundation has appointed Nili Shah as executive technical director. She will be in charge of the technical staff that support the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and be responsible for co-ordinating the technical activities of the foundation. Shah will start her new role in October 2017. 

Shah will be based in London, reporting to the chairman of the IASB Hans Hoogervorst.

Prior to this appointment, Shah was deputy chief accountant of the corporation finance division at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In that role, she was responsible for overseeing financial reporting matters affecting SEC registrants as well as the formulation of division policies regarding financial reporting and disclosure by public companies. 

Before that, she spent four years in the SEC’s office of the chief accountant. She joined the SEC in 2004.