GFI boosts Fenics foreign exchange options pricing team

GFI Group, the inter-dealer broker and market data company, has hired three new staff for its Fenics foreign exchange options pricing system.

Richard Brunt joins the company's Singapore office as head of Asia sales, replacing Marc Field, who has moved to GFI’s brokerage arm. Brunt joins from Thompson Financial in Singapore, where he supported regional clients.

Steve Bruce and Gabriela Liber join the London sales team as business development specialists.

Bruce was formerly at Reuters, where he was a financial applications specialist. Before that he worked at Exco, now part of Icap, as a foreign exchange options broker.

Liber joins from inter-dealer broker Prebon Yamane, recently acquired by Collins Stewart Tullett, where she worked as an emerging markets forex options broker.

James Watson, global head of sales at GFI in London, said the appointments will help the company meet increasingly sophisticated IT demands on the system from bank clients. “Forex is a big part of our business and we want to solidify it," he said.

“Previously, clients would want basic pricing tools, but now, due to the advent of [online] client portals, there is demand for revaluing, analysis and client connectivity, and they want more customisation and flexibility,” Watson said.

The Fenics foreign exchange pricing tool offers an interface for both traders and sales people that facilitates price discovery and customer service support. The Fenics FX pricing software can price vanilla options, exotic options and proprietary models, officials said. GFI also has relationships with dVega and NumeriX to help users choose a pricing methodology.