People: New roles for Amrolia and Rodgers in Deutsche reshuffle

Markets group at Deutsche gets new cross-asset electronic trading unit, led by Zar Amrolia; Knight Capital responds to rogue algo loss by naming new CRO; listed derivatives co-head leaves Morgan Stanley; Nomura loses Fares, names Downey sole head of equity derivatives for Europe

Deutsche Bank has reorganised the management of its foreign exchange business, following the creation of a new electronic trading unit for its markets division, which will focus on electronic execution platforms across fixed-income asset classes.

Zar Amrolia, who has been global head of foreign exchange since 2006, now also becomes head of markets electronic trading, and Kevin Rodgers, formerly global head of forex spot, e-trading and derivatives, becomes global head of foreign exchange and chair of the global finance and foreign exchange (GFFX) executive committee. Both Amrolia and Rodgers are based in London.

“A combination of regulation, automation and client demand is driving increased standardisation and transparency in order execution across fixed-income markets. The consequence is the continued migration of significant client flow through electronic platforms,” said Amrolia in an internal memo dated August 28.

Deutsche has appointed 15 senior business heads to the markets electronic trading executive committee, representing products, client segments and regions. The committee is chaired by Amrolia and a chief operating officer will be announced in due course. The committee’s immediate mandate will be to deliver a cross-product strategy and execution road map for the business.

Representing GFFX on the new committee are Adam Vos, global head of foreign exchange forwards, and Philip Wood, co-head of forex spot trading. Neehal Shah, formerly global head of institutional forex sales, joins the executive committee to focus on the institutional client segment, along with Serge Marston, head of electronic commerce sales.

Following Shah’s move to the markets electronic trading executive committee, Kenan Altunis, formerly European head of institutional forex sales, has been appointed global head of institutional foreign exchange sales. In his new role, Altunis remains in London and reports to Rich Herman, global head of Deutsche’s institutional client group and a member of the corporate banking and securities executive committee. Altunis has been at Deutsche since 2009, when he rejoined the bank after a four-year stint with UniCredit.

Altunis also joins Deutsche’s GFFX executive committee, which was reorganised in late July when the promotion of Rodgers was announced internally. Under the new structure, Jason Shell has assumed responsibility for global client solutions and remains head of forex for North America, based in New York. Fredrik Gentzel joins as head of listed derivatives to provide communication between GFFX and the prime finance business.

In addition, David Lynne, head of GFFX, rates and commodities for Asia, has joined the executive committee to replace Clifford Cheah, who has become Deutsche’s chief strategy officer for Asia-Pacific. In other regions, GFFX continues to be headed by Joe Randazzo in North America, Russell Lascala in Japan, Darren Boulos in Australia and New Zealand, and Ardalan Gharagozlou in continental Europe.

Other members of the GFFX executive committee include: Fabio Madar, global head of forex sales for capital markets and treasury solutions; Rashid Hoosenally, head of macro structuring; Martin Perkins, head of GFFX technology; Ian Patterson, chief operating officer; and Peter McLady, head of market and regulatory affairs.

 

Other moves

As Risk was going to press, it emerged that Athanassios Diplas, global head of systemic risk management at Deutsche Bank in New York, had left to “pursue new endeavours”.

It is unclear what role Diplas will take up. Reports suggested he will join the International Swaps and Derivatives Association in an advisory or consulting role, citing a person familiar with the situation – and Diplas appeared to refer to that in an email he sent to colleagues following his departure. “The press articles touched on some of my short-term plans but my long-term ones are still evolving,” the email said.

Alongside his role at Deutsche Bank, Diplas is co-chair of Isda’s industry governance and credit steering committees. He has played a key role in the banking industry’s response to regulatory reform, participating in a number of meetings with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and sitting on the European Securities and Markets Authority’s secondary markets standing committee.

 

Following losses caused by a rogue algorithm in August, Knight Capital has promoted Brian Strauss to the newly created position of chief risk officer. He has global responsibility for credit, market and operational risk management. Strauss will report to executive vice-president and chief financial officer Steven Bisgay.

Strauss joined Knight in 2009 as head of credit risk for Knight’s institutional fixed-income business. Prior to this, he worked at UBS as senior credit officer.

Alongside Strauss’ promotion, Bisgay has added chief operating officer to his responsibilities. He will now be in charge of all financial and operational aspects of the firm, including risk management.

Bisgay joined Knight Capital in 2001 as director of internal audit and held the positions of group controller and managing director of business development before becoming chief financial officer in 2007. Prior to joining Knight, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The firm has also announced that it wants to recruit an operational and technology risk manager to report to Strauss. It is also seeking to appoint a chief technology officer, reporting to Bisgay.

The two new positions are described by Knight as a continuing review of technology operations. The firm lost $440 million trading stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. A rogue algorithm was blamed for the losses, which resulted from a swath of unintended buy orders.

 

Credit Suisse has appointed Dominic Yip as a director and head of foreign exchange for developed markets options trading in Asia. Based in Singapore, he reports to Simon Hards, global head of foreign exchange options trading and structuring in London.

Yip has more than 10 years’ experience in forex options trading. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, he was a director in forex options trading at Citi in London. He left the bank in July 2011 as one of a number of senior forex departures, mainly in London and New York.

Yip joined Citi in 2009 from Dresdner Kleinwort in London, where he had been a senior forex options trader since 2007. Prior to that he was at Crédit Agricole running the yen book, having moved from WestLB in Tokyo.

David Faulkner, global prime brokerage manager at Icap in London, has left the interdealer broker after nine years.

Faulkner joined Icap’s EBS platform in 2003, initially as an account executive. In his most recent role, he headed the EBS Prime business globally, with responsibility for client relationships and product development.

Prior to joining Icap, Faulkner held various spot trading and broking positions at banks in London and Tokyo, including Nomura, Kleinwort Benson and the Republic National Bank of New York. Faulkner’s plans are not yet known. Icap declined to comment.

 

Bill Templer, former co-head of listed derivatives at Morgan Stanley, has launched a derivatives consulting firm, Faventus Consulting.

Templer joined Morgan Stanley with his fellow listed derivatives co-head, Clark Hutchison, from UBS in September 2009. Templer left the firm in January this year during a wave of redundancies.

At UBS, Templer and Hutchison oversaw the acquisition and integration of ABN Amro’s futures and options business in October 2006. Templer had been at UBS for more than a decade, holding various roles in the bank’s listed derivatives business, most recently as chief executive of its clearing and execution services. Templer was also a board member at the Futures and Options Association.

Hutchison, based in New York, remains as the bank’s co-head of listed futures. In December 2011, Morgan Stanley said it would look to cut some 1,600 positions during early 2012. Notable departures included Luc François, the bank’s global head of equity derivatives, and Tony Stewart, head of index futures trading.

 

Makram Fares, co-head of European equity sales and equity derivatives at Nomura, left the bank this September ahead of selective cuts to the bank’s Europe and Asia units.

Fares moved to Nomura in June 2010 from UBS, where he was head of European equity derivatives distribution. Fares joined UBS from Lehman Brothers in 2004 with initial responsibility for hedge fund sales and then for all flow sales and sales trading in Europe.

Steven Downey, who split the equity derivatives role with Fares, stays on at the bank as head of equities trading and head of equity derivatives for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Meanwhile, Nomura has announced the appointment of Matthew Reader, who joins the bank as global head of structured rates ex-Japan, reporting to Steve Ashley, global head of fixed income, and Gary Cottle, EMEA head of fixed income. Reader joins from JP Morgan, where he headed the illiquid trading business.

Separately, Stuart Oakley has joined as global head of Asian non-deliverable forwards and head of foreign exchange cash trading for Asia ex-Japan. Based in Singapore, Oakley reports to Jai Rajpal, global head of foreign exchange, and Rig Karkhanis, head of fixed income for Asia ex-Japan.

 

Mark Green has joined Citi as a director in its equity derivatives trading business, focusing on single stocks. He will be based in London.

Green joins the firm from Infinity Capital Markets, where he was an equity derivatives portfolio manager from June 2010. Prior to this, he was a director in HSBC’s equity derivatives business from June 2009, and also performed a similar role at Merrill Lynch, focusing on relative value trading, from March 2008.

He also worked as a proprietary trader in Nomura’s equity derivatives team from October 2004.

 

Newedge, the brokerage and clearing firm that is jointly owned by Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, has named Ghislaine Mattlinger as group chief financial officer (CFO). She succeeds Isabelle Fandard, who remains with Newedge.

Mattlinger will be based in Paris, overseeing Newedge’s finance function globally and reporting directly to Françoise Guillaume, Newedge’s chief operating officer and deputy chief executive.

Mattlinger, who will also join Newedge’s executive committee, arrives from Natixis, the French corporate and investment bank, where she was CFO and a member of its executive committee.

 

The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (Ferma), which brings together 22 national risk management associations from across 20 European countries, has announced a new board member, Isabel Martinez. Martinez replaces Igor Mikhaylov, who has resigned due to other work commitments.

Martinez is a member of the Spanish risk management association Agers, and had been elected as a board substitute at the Ferma annual general meeting in June 2012.

Martinez is a senior lecturer in corporate finance at the Autonomous University of Madrid’s school of business and economics, as well as the university’s finance and marketing department head.

 

HSBC’s global banking and markets division has made five senior appointments in its Asia-Pacific equities unit and three senior appointments in its prime services units. Tim Franks has left Bank of China International to head hedge fund sales, while Jeffrey Tan has been appointed director in equity sales. The bank has also poached Eric Ang and Russell Jacobsen from Samsung Securities to work as directors in equity sales trading in the firm’s Hong Kong office.

In Taipei, HSBC has hired Edward Yen from Goldman Sachs to serve as director for Taiwan equity sales, and Jean-Paul Linschoten and Adrian Harrison as directors in its prime service sales division in Hong Kong. David Streatfield, formerly at Deutsche Bank, has also joined the group as a director in equity finance delta one sales, based in Hong Kong.

 

The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima), the global hedge fund industry association, has appointed Kathleen Casey as a new non-executive chairman. Casey, whose appointment will last for two years, replaces Todd Groome following the expiry of his term.

Casey will lead the new Aima council, on which she will be joined by: Olwyn Alexander, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers; Mark O’Sullivan, partner at Ernst & Young; Phil Schmitt, president of Summerwood Capital; and Henry Smith, global managing partner at Maples and Calder. Six other council members continue their directorships at Aima, while five directors are stepping down.

Prior to taking the chairman’s role, Casey was a Republican commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), having been appointed by president George Bush in 2006. Throughout her tenure, she acted as the SEC’s principal representative in various international regulatory dialogues and forums, including the International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) and the Financial Stability Board. In that role, she also served as chair of the Iosco technical committee and led various international regulatory workstreams.

Prior to being appointed commissioner, Casey spent 13 years on Capitol Hill, most recently as staff director and counsel of the US Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.