ICAP Appoints Ex-S&P Dow Jones Executive as Global Head of Indices

Interdealer broker and provider of post trade risk services ICAP today appointed ex-S&P Dow Jones Indices executive Jan de Smedt as Global Head of Indices.

Mr. de Smedt assumes his new position at ICAP today, bringing with him 18 years of experience in the financial services industry, consisting of 4 years of trading, with the following 14 years being spent on the sales side of the business.

Throughout his career, he has concentrated on managed futures funds, long-only investment funds, various hedge fund strategies and the funds themselves, financial data and indices. On the client side, Mr. de Smedt has maintained relationships with private banks, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds, family offices, asset managers, structured products desks at global investment banks and ETF sponsors as clients.

Mr de Smedt joins ICAP from S&P Dow Jones Indices, where he held the position of Senior Director Licensing and Sales within their Client Coverage group in London. In his new role, Mr. de Smedt will be charged with the task of developing and expanding ICAP’s index business within Information Services. His focus will be on increasing the number of ICAP indices linked to Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term Traded Products, mutual funds and derivative products as well as growing the calculation services and data sales business worldwide.

ICAP has recently launched, with partners, a number of trade-backed volume-weighted indices in response to demand from the market for more transparent benchmarks that are fully auditable. RepoFunds Rate and iRepo reflect a market progression from unsecured to secured forms of funding. These robust indices are calculated from actual trades made on centrally cleared regulated trading systems. The Tankard Index was also launched following demand for increased transparency in the UK and European Gas markets.

IIS sits within ICAP’s Post Trade Risk and Information division which provides risk and cost management services, along with methods intended to increase efficiency, return on capital and increase the capacity to process trades.

Commenting on the appointment, Mark Beeston, CEO of Portfolio Risk Services, said: “Our Index business is a cornerstone of ICAP’s Information Services offering. We’ve positioned it to capitalize on forthcoming market and regulatory developments. Jan’s appointment underscores our commitment and focus in developing this growing area and I welcome him to ICAP.”