Reuters snares Trott for RTS

International financial information and trading technology provider Reuters has talked former Bank of England chief forex dealer Jim Trott out of retirement to join the firm as strategic and commercial manager for Reuters Treasury Services (RTS).

Trott, who was with the bank for more than three decades, will be responsible for the global strategic development of Reuters' participation in the foreign exchange and money markets.

That, Trott told RiskNews’ sister publication FX Week (www.fxweek.com), encompasses the whole array of Reuters solutions, from the interbank matching service to new buy-side initiatives.

Technology has, until recently, explained Trott, been geared towards the sell-side of the foreign exchange industry. "Now, the technology is moving towards the buy-side. It seemed to me Reuters was going to be very much at the forefront of that," he said.

As banks become more risk-averse, price discovery is also no longer solely in the domain of the banks, Trott added. The buy-side, and hedge funds in particular, are having more influence, he noted.

Trott's addition to Reuters comes as the firm is in the process of another reorganisation - this time to focus more squarely on the customer segment. "Jim joins Reuters as we enter a new era, realigned to focus on our core customer groups," said Julie Holland, managing director of RTS.

Within the RTS group, the firm has already made recent additions to support this buy-side focus, including hosting the e-Mider overnight index swaps trading system and the e-Mid deposits trading system, on Reuters Dealing 3000. The service also added analysis firm 4Cast's research last week on 3,000 Xtra news screens and 3,000 and 3,000 feeds. From January 2002, Reuters plans to add Icor Brokerage's online forex options broking service on the system.

Trott left the Bank of England at the end of March after 32 years with the UK central bank.