MAS Markets Hires ATFX Australia Head Simon Naish to Lead Asia-Pacific

MAS Markets has named Simon Naish as head of Asia-Pacific, the London-based liquidity provider said today (Tuesday). He fills the seat Harry Fry left at the start of the month.

Naish, who took up the role in October, will be based in Sydney and lead MAS's push for institutional clients in the region. Fry, who ran Asia-Pacific for MAS Group for nearly four years, joined Edgewater Markets as managing director for Australia on October 1.

London's trading industry is coming home!

MAS sells margin liquidity in FX, commodities, metals and indices to brokers, hedge funds and family offices. Its 2025 turnover nearly doubled to £6.13 million, the company said.

Naish is the second ATFX executive MAS has hired this year. In June it named Matt Porter, who ran operations for ATFX's UK institutional desk, as head of operations.

From NAB's FX Desk to ATFX

Naish spent 33 years at National Australia Bank (NAB), starting as a foreign 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 trader in London in 1987 and later running the bank's FX business in Asia-Pacific, according to his LinkedIn profile.

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He left NAB in 2020, consulted for a year and then ran FX business development at market maker Velocity Trade. In November 2023 he became country head at ATFX in Sydney, months after ATFX bought Rakuten Securities Australia.

"There's a genuine appetite in APAC for what we're offering," Naish said in the statement. He will work with MAS Group's senior leadership on regional sales and team building, the company said.

A Takeover in Progress

The Sydney team Naish inherits was built under Fry, who hired former CMC Markets institutional sales executive Olivia Zhang as head of sales for the region in March 2025.

Founder and Chief Executive Simon Blackledge said Naish would lead "this critical phase of our regional expansion." Fry had joined in 2022, when MAS still traded as BidX Markets.

In July, MAS Group took a stake in spot FX market maker Solid as the first step toward a full takeover. The deal reversed a 2022 one in which Solid bought 9.9% of MAS.

Blackledge still owns more than 75% of MAS, which is authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its rol Read this Term) and runs its infrastructure from the LD4 and TY3 data centers.