People moves: Exit Buehler for XTX, Spitz quits CA, and more

Hans Buehler, JP Morgan’s head of equities analytics, automation and optimisation, has left the bank to join algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets as its deputy chief executive officer from July.

Buehler, winner of Risk.net’s 2022 quant of the year award, is known for his work on applying machine learning to derivatives trading. Over the past decade, his research has led JP Morgan to develop a technique known as deep hedging, whereby an algorithm learns how to price and hedge instruments based on a combination of real-world and simulated data – a departure from the classic and widely used Black-Scholes-based models.

In March, Buehler detailed the de-trending mechanism for the learning process of his algorithm, along with ambitions to expand the technique as the backbone of the firm’s electronic trading business. JP Morgan has not yet clarified what will now happen to these projects. Ben Wood, the firm’s global co-head of equity derivatives quantitative research, co-authored most of Buehler’s published research on deep hedging.

XTX was founded by its chief executive officer (CEO), former currency trader Alex Gerko, in 2015. The firm’s co-CEO Zar Amrolia will leave his executive role in 2023.

David Bachelier, co-founder and managing director of BGC-owned optimisation platform Capitalab, has left the firm. Risk.net understands Bachelier left voluntarily to pursue other fintech interests and is considering a move to a digital asset company.

A former interest rate options trader at BNP Paribas, Bachelier founded Capitalab in 2015 with Gavin Jackson, who previously headed rates in the French bank’s quant development division.

Bachelier’s departure comes after Singapore-based Julien Bourgouint resigned as head of quantitative research in December. Bourgouint, who joined in 2019, is now a credit quantitative analyst at Barclays, based in Singapore. While at Capitalab, Bachelier was based in Singapore and London.

The departure of the two senior executives leaves just one staff member in Asia, from nine members at its 2019 peak. Bachelier declined to comment on his departure; BGC Partners did not respond to a request for comment.

Thomas Spitz, head of global markets trading at Crédit Agricole, has left after more than 20 years. Latterly responsible for fixed income, currency, commodities and equity derivatives, Spitz joined the French bank as head of credit derivatives trading in 2001. Between 2018 and 2021, he served as head of the global markets sales division, before which he spent four years as global head of trading within global markets. Spitz also previously worked for rival French bank Societe Generale as a credit trader between 1998 and 2001.

NatWest Markets has promoted Michelle Girard as head of US and CEO of NatWest Markets Securities. Girard has spent the past 18 years at the UK bank, most recently as deputy head of US and co-head of global economics – roles she has held since 2021. Before joining NatWest Markets in 2004 as chief US economist, she spent more than seven years as co-head of fixed income strategy and research at Prudential Securities.

Girard now reports directly to CEO Robert Begbie.

Jermaine Jarrett also joins the bank as managing director and head of high-yield syndicate and leveraged loans. Jarrett joins from Crédit Agricole, where he has worked as head of high-yield syndicate since 2013. Based in London, he will report to Miles Hunt, managing director and head of private credit syndicate.

Helge Weiner-Trapness has joined HSBC as a vice-chair in its global banking division. A founding member of independent advisory firm Quintus Partners, Weiner-Trapness previously spent more than four years at Barclays as head of financial institutions group (FIG) Asia. He joined the bank in 2010, having previously been a partner and chief operations officer (COO) at private equity firm Asia Pacific Land. At HSBC, he will initially be based in London before relocating to Hong Kong, where he will be responsible for building the FIG business in Asia, reporting to Greg Guyett, co-CEO of global banking and markets.

Barclays has hired Urvashi Batra as head of equities electronic trading for the Americas. Batra joins from JP Morgan, where she spent the past 11 years – most recently as Americas head of electronic trading solutions. She previously spent almost two years as an associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Batra will be based in New York, reporting jointly to the head of global markets electronic trading Peter Ward and to global head of cash equities Peter Ramsey.

Mathias Peters also joins as head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) specialist sales. He arrives from Credit Suisse, where he spent the past five-and-a-half years, most recently as a director of FIG. He previously worked at Citi, Nomura and Lehman, where his financial career began in 2006. Peters will be based in London, reporting to Anita Tanna, head of European equity sales.

Calvin Tse has been appointed as head of Americas developed markets strategy at BNP Paribas. Tse joins from Citi, where he was most recently head of FX strategy for North America. He previously spent two years as a macro strategist at Capula Investment Management. Tse will report globally to Sam Lynton-Brown, global head of developed markets strategy and head of G10 FX strategy, and locally to John Gallo, global head of institutional sales and co-head of global markets, Americas.

BNY Mellon CEO Todd Gibbons is set to retire, effective August 31. Gibbons has spent the past 36 years at the US bank, having joined in 1986 as an assistant vice-president in its capital markets division. He became chief risk policy officer in 2000 and chief financial officer (CFO) in 2006, then CEO of clearing, markets and client management in 2018 and CEO in 2019.

Gibbons’ successor will be Robin Vince, current vice-chair of BNY Mellon and CEO of global market infrastructure. Prior to joining BNY Mellon in 2020, Vince spent 26 years with Goldman Sachs. He will initially serve as president and CEO-elect, working alongside Gibbons.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s deputy governor, Guy Debelle, will join Fortescue Future Industries as CFO in June, after 25 years at the central bank. Debelle has served as deputy governor of RBA since September 2016, as deputy chair of the Reserve Bank Board, and as chair of the Council of Financial Regulators Climate Working Group. Earlier, he worked as assistant governor for the central bank’s financial markets division. Outside the RBA, Debelle chaired the Bank for International Settlements’ Foreign Exchange Working Group, which developed the original FX Global Code of Conduct. He also chaired the Global Foreign Exchange Committee from May 2019 to December 2021, overseeing publication of the FX Global Code’s second iteration in 2021.

Alaistair Sharpe, a sterling short-term interest rate trader (Stirt) has left Credit Suisse. Before joining in 2012, he spent 11 years as a Stirt trader for Royal Bank of Scotland, and earlier as part of Chase Manhattan Bank’s interest rate management group, which he joined in 1996. At Credit Suisse, Sharpe was instrumental in creating FairFix, a new methodology for deriving term fixings for alternative reference rates following the recent decommission of Libor. According to FairFix’s website, Sharpe has joined Citi’s sterling desk. A Citi spokesperson was unable to confirm his appointment.

BNP Paribas Asset Management has appointed Nadia Grant as head of global equities. She joins from Capital Group, where she was a portfolio manager within the capital solutions group. Grant served as Columbia Threadneedle’s Emea-based head of US equities from 2014 to 2020. In her new role, she will be responsible for BNPP AM’s global equity team, based in London and Paris, and report to Guy Davies, chief information officer, fundamental active equities.

Stefan Kuhn has joined Fidelity International as head of exchange-traded fund (ETF) distribution for Europe. Kuhn comes from State Street Global Advisers, where he has spent the past three years – most recently as head of Standard & Poor’s depository receipt ETFs for Germany in Frankfurt. He was previously head of Lyxor ETF sales for Europe at Societe Generale for almost two years. In his new role, based in Kornberg, Germany, Kuhn will be responsible for expanding Fidelity’s European ETF business, reporting to Christophe Gloser, head of sales for Continental Europe.

George Theocharides has been appointed chairman of the committee for economic and markets analysis (Cema), a sub-committee of the European Securities and Markets Authority. He joins from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, where he currently serves as chairman – a role he has held since 2021. Theocharides also spent nore than five years as a research associate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies. He will serve as chairman of Cema until December 31, 2022.

Dave Sanchez has been appointed as director of the office of municipal securities for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sanchez was most recently senior counsel at Norton Rose Fulbright, having earlier served as an attorney fellow in the SEC’s office of municipal securities between 2010 and 2013. From 2004 to 2009, he was associate general counsel at Assured Guarantee.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has appointed Amanda Freedle as its next deputy comptroller and chief accountant. Freedle joined the OCC in 2009 as a senior accounting policy adviser and has most recently served as deputy chief accountant. Prior to joining the OCC, she spent more than two years as director of internal controls and change management at Freddie Mac.

The Global Financial Markets Association has appointed a new leadership team. Leonardo Arduini, head of Emea at Citi, will replace outgoing chair Steve Ashley, senior managing director and head of wholesale at Nomura. Arduini has held his current position at Citi since 2014 and was previously head of investor sales for Emea markets.

The GFMA’s outgoing CEO, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s president and CEO Kenneth Bentsen, will be replaced by Adam Farkas, chief executive of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe. Before joining Afme in 2020, Farkas served as executive director of the European Banking Authority for almost nine years, and prior to that spent eight years representing the EBA on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Both Arduini and Farkas will serve two-year terms.

Meanwhile, Caroline Liesegang has been appointed as head of prudential regulation and research at Afme. She joins from Commerzbank, where she has spent almost four years as UK chief risk officer, prior to which she spent three-and-a-half years at the European Central Bank – latterly as deputy head of division analysis and methodological support. Liesegang succeeds Michael Lever, who retired at the end of 2021 after 10 years at Afme.

Cboe Global Markets has promoted David Howson to president, effective May 12. Howson is currently executive vice president at Cboe and president for Europe and Asia-Pacific, having joined in 2017 as COO for Cboe Europe. Howson will replace current president Ed Tilly, who has been in the role since January 2019. Tilly also served as CEO and director of Cboe Global Markets from 2013 to 2017, and as chairman from 2017 to 2019.

The exchange’s current senior vice-president and head of European equities, Natan Tiefenbrun, will assume the role of Cboe president for Europe from the same date. Before joining Cboe in 2021, Tiefenbrun spent almost eight years at Bank of America as managing director for European execution services. In his new role, he will report to Howson and oversee Cboe’s UK and Amsterdam-based businesses.

Meanwhile, Ade Cordell has been promoted to Cboe president for Asia-Pacific. Cordell currently works as senior vice-president and president of Cboe Netherlands, a role he has held for the past two years. He previously spent 16 years at Ice Futures Europe, most recently as global head of equity derivatives. For his new role, Cordell will relocate to Asia-Pacific and report to Howson. He will also continue to oversee Cboe’s European derivatives business for the remainder of 2022.

TP Icap has promoted Darren Hayes to CEO of energy and commodities for its Americas business, based in Houston. Hayes has served as managing director, North American energy since 2015. He previously worked as senior vice-president of business development for OTC Global Holdings for just over six years. He will report to Andrew Polydor, global head of markets.

Ronn Baker has joined Baton Systems as senior director, based in the US. Baker spent the past 14 years at Wells Fargo – most recently as director of innovation and digital strategy – having joined as an FX senior technology analyst. He reports to Alex Knight, head of Emea and global head of sales.