People: MUFG hires Taylor to head markets AI strategy, Wells Fargo builds up QIS, and more

Latest job changes across the industry

Stu Taylor

MUFG has appointed Stu Taylor to a newly created position heading AI strategy for the global markets division, international excluding Japan. Taylor joined the bank in November 2020 as head of electronic trading. He has been replaced in this role by Sheryl Wang, head of fixed income e-trading. 

In prior roles, Taylor was responsible for building e-trading businesses at UBS and Merrill Lynch. In 2012, he founded Algomi, a fixed-income fintech, which matched buy-side and sell-side participants in credit markets. He served as chief executive at Algomi until 2018. The fintech was bought by BGC in 2020 and ultimately integrated into its Fenics division. 

Taylor has held various advisory roles at fintechs including Cloud9 and Symphony. 

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Natalia Naber has joined Wells Fargo to run the bank’s quantitative investment strategies (QIS) business. Naber joins from UBS, where she headed QIS distribution for Asia. Prior to that, she spent 14 years at Barclays in roles including equity derivatives structuring and QIS, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Earlier this year, Wells Fargo hired Jasdeep Maghera to run equity derivatives structuring as part of an expansion of the business. Maghera previously ran equity structured derivatives trading at TD Securities and was an equity derivatives trader at Goldman Sachs, according to his LinkedIn profile. A spokesperson for Wells Fargo did not respond to a request for comment. 

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Barclays operational risk head Steve Portway has left the firm, the bank confirmed. His destination is unknown, and Portway did not respond to requests for comment. Portway had served Barclays for 14 years, joining the bank in May 2012. 

In his role, Portway headed the bank’s operational risk framework, capital and stress-testing and product approval, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to Barclays, Portway was executive director, operational risk control at UBS, joining in August 2005. His career before that included working as a manager at London-based investment bank SG Warburg & Co from 1983 to 1995. 

In January, Chanel Rock was promoted to head of group op risk strategy at Barclays, alongside her existing role as head of operational risk, Barclays UK.

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Udesh Jha

Udesh Jha has joined prediction market operator Kalshi as head of exchange analytics. He joins from CME, where he spent 16 years, most recently as head of post-trade services. His arrival at Kalshi follows the appointment of Andy Ross, who joined the firm as head of institutional earlier this year. 

The latest hires come as Kalshi aims to expand beyond its sports betting roots. In February, the firm announced a strategic partnership with Tradeweb to expand institutional access to prediction market data and analytics.

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Citi has appointed Florian Eichert as a trader on the sovereign, supranational and agency (SSA) and covered bond team. He takes on his new role in August and will be based in Frankfurt. Eichert joins from Crédit Agricole, where he spent 16 years, most recently as head of covered bond and SSA research. Prior to that, he was a covered bond analyst at LBBW.

The US bank has also hired Andrei Kazantsev as global head of foreign exchange exotics trading, starting September 1. His initial focus will be on correlation and Group of 10 structured products. Kazantsev spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently heading FX flow exotics and structured products and held roles on crypto derivatives and options trading. 

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Marc Saffon

Societe Generale has named Marc Saffon as group country head for Japan, effective from September 1. He replaces Bruno Gaussorgues, who will relocate to Paris to become group head of credit portfolio risk management. A 30-year veteran of the bank, Saffon has led SG’s global markets division for Japan since 2020, with responsibility for fixed income, equities and cross-asset solutions. 

He joined SG’s risk management division in 1993, and has held various leadership roles in the global markets team, including heading financial engineering in London, and chief operating officer for global markets in Paris. In his new role, Saffon will report to Jerome Niddam, the bank’s chief executive for Asia-Pacific, and will be a member of the Apac management committee. 

In a related move, several foreign exchange traders and salespeople have left Societe Generale. Among the most recent senior departures is London-based Ruchir Sharma, co-head of FX options trading, FX Markets reports. He joined in summer last year from Nomura, having previously been global head of FX derivatives. Other departures in Europe include Mickael Koskas, a Paris-based emerging markets FX options trader, and Mario Stopponi, a London-based emerging markets FX trader.

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Mizuho has promoted Guy Reid to head of banking for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Reid was previously head of primary capital markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea). Reid joined Mizuho in 2013. He replaces Slava Slavinskiy, who left his role as head of investment and corporate banking for Emea in May. Slavinskiy’s departure came soon after the departure of Asif Godall, who headed markets for Emea. Both had been with the Japanese bank for seven years. 

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Jane Street has hired George Fordham, a former director within Barclays’ electronic foreign exchange trading team, in a sales and trading role, as reported by FX Markets. Fordham spent almost 10 years at Barclays in London, most recently on the automated market-making desk covering G10 and emerging market currencies. A spokesperson for Jane Street declined to comment. 

The high-frequency trading firm has expanded its spot FX market-making business over the past couple of years to include direct bilateral streaming, both on its JX single-dealer platform and hosted on trading venues. 

Earlier this year, Barclays appointed Ben Hutson, who has led the bank’s G10 FX forwards business, as co-head of FX trading following the departure of Jerry Minier to Citi in 2025. 

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Two former foreign exchange exotics options traders at Citi have left the US bank to take up new roles at Morgan Stanley and Millennium. Jay Steinberg joined Millennium in New York in May as a portfolio manager, while London-based Thomas Roberts joined Morgan Stanley in April as an FX options trader focusing on correlation products, structured products and pure volatility products. 

Steinberg, who was a former director for FX correlation options trading at Citi, left in February after more than seven years with the bank. He was previously an exotics FX options trader at Deutsche Bank. Roberts spent eight years at Citi in a variety of exotic options trading roles before leaving in March. 

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Cboe has hired Boudewijn Duinstra as chief risk officer. In the newly created role, he will work closely with Todd Furney, director of information security who leads the risk function. Duinstra, whose start date has yet to be confirmed, will lead the global risk management function, reporting to chief executive Craig Donohue. 

Duinstra joins from ABN Amro Clearing, where he has been chief executive for the US business since 2021. He previously headed risk management at Ice Clear Europe. Primarily based at Cboe’s Chicago headquarters, Duinstra will spend time in Amsterdam supporting the exchange group’s European equities business.

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Oberon Knapp has joined Digital Asset Holdings as global head of equities. He joins from Options Clearing Corporation, where he spent 25 years, most recently as head of strategy. 

Digital Asset is involved in the tokenisation of assets and owns Canton network, a privacy enabled blockchain that aims to improve collateral and asset mobilisation as well as securities financing. The network has recently worked with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation for repo of tokenised Treasury securities. 

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Patrick Schorno has joined the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as chief economist. He was previously the deputy chief economist at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Schorno is a former executive director at Ally Financial, and was a financial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. 

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Kevin Warsh took oath of office as chairman of board of governors of the US Federal Reserve System on May 22, and was unanimously selected as the Federal Open Market Committee chairman. President Donald Trump nominated Warsh on March 4, and the US Senate confirmed him to serve as a member of board on May 12. 

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Photo: Banca d’Italia

Fabio Panetta

The Bank for International settlements has appointed new board members from central banks in Italy, Brazil, Japan and Australia. 

Bank of Italy governor Fabio Panetta began a three-year term as the chair of the board on June 3. He succeeds François Villeroy de Galhau, who stepped down from his position of governor of the Banque de France in June. 

Gabriel Galípolo, governor of the Central Bank of Brazil, will serve a three-year term as chair of the meeting of governors of major emerging market economies. Starting September 1, he will succeed Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, will serve a two-year term as chair of the Asian Consultative Council, as of May 11. She succeeds Nguyen Thi Hong, former governor of the State Bank of Vietnam.

Kazuo Ueda, governor of the Bank of Japan, will serve a three-year term as chair of the committee on the global financial system, starting May 12. He succeeds Chang Yong Rhee, former governor of the Bank of Korea.

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Giulio Mignola has been appointed chair of operational risk management association ORX. Mignola is the deputy chief risk officer at Intesa Sanpaolo, and leads the credit, enterprise and operational risk management teams. He replaces Lisa Broomer, who retired from her role as head of operational risk management at JP Morgan in March. 

Editing by Alex Krohn