Trading Places: Symphony, Hotspot, BNY Mellon, Wedbush

Last week saw appointments, relocations, and promotions throughout the industry.

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4.9

James Watson

Finance veteran James Watson has taken on a new role - he is now the Global Head of Sales at Tradition. He was previously European Managing Director at ADS Securities in London dating back to 2014. He will continue to serve as a non-executive director at ADS Securities in addition to his new role.

5.9

Jonathan Watras

Former Director of FX Sales at Hotspot Jonathan Watson has relocated to Singapore to begin a new position as Head of FX Sales APAC.

Mr. Watras has worked in the financial services industry for over a decade, working in a variety of FX roles including prime brokerage, sales, and systems. Before joining CBOE, previously Bats, Mr. Watras worked at Currenex for nearly three years as Vice President of FX Sales.

His first role was at HSBC as an FX corporate analyst, extending back to 2005.

Mayra Pinzón and Marco F. Da Costa

Online foreign exchange and contracts for difference (CFDs) provider AvaTrade has appointed two experienced individuals to senior positions in Spain and Portugal.

Mayra Pinzón has been appointed Head of Business Development for the company’s

Spanish unit. She will be based in Barcelona. According to her Linkedin profile, she previously worked as a partner of AvaTrade, introducing new clients to the company from the region. Prior to joining AvaTrade, Ms. Pinzón was an account manager at LVM Holdings.

Marco F. Da Costa has been appointed Senior Global Account Manager. He will be based in Lisbon. He comes to the firm with over 10 years of experience in the FX industry. His last role was as Head of Forex Sales (Portuguese and Spanish Markets) for MultiBank Exchange Group.

6.9

Steven Slovak and William Barry

Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities, a provider of private and institutional brokerage services in the US, has secured the services of William Barry and Steven Slovak as managing directors at its Fixed Income Financing, Futures and Rates division.

Mr. Barry joins Wedbush Securities from Sage Trader where he served as Head of Global Business Development. Steve Slovak most recently served as Global Futures Business Development Manager at Sage Trader.

Managing Director Scott Skyrim said: “Having Bill and Steve onboard, positions Wedbush toward the future. Their extensive combined experience, in both buy and sell side, is the perfect formula to accelerate our growth with institutional clients.”

Stuart Williams and Timothy J. Bowler

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), a global network of exchanges and clearing houses, has announced the appointment of Stuart Williams as President of ICE Futures Europe and Timothy J. Bowler as President of ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA).

Williams will be replacing David Peniket, who has retired, and Bowler succeeds Finbarr Hutcheson.

Bowler was previously Managing Director of of the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman Sachs. Williams has been the Chief Operating Officer of ICE Futures Europe since the middle of 2016. Before that, he was the Director of Corporate Development.

Jeffrey C. Sprecher, Chairman and CEO, commented on the appointments: “We are pleased to announce these appointments, which will enable us to continue to build on our ability to grow and serve our customers."

7.9

Joanna Lawn

NZX Ltd., the only registered securities exchange in New Zealand, has announced the appointment of Joanna Lawn as new Head of Listing. She will be based in NZX’s Auckland office.

Joanna Lawn will join NZX from ANZ, where she is currently in the position of Head of Business Management. She has over 20 years of experience in the financial market working in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom in various senior management positions.

James Taylor

FX industry veteran James Taylor has taken on the role of Head of FX Electronic Markets Sales at BNY Mellon. He joins BNY Mellon Markets after eight years at JP Morgan, where he held a variety of interest rate and FX roles at the Wall Street bank.

BNY Mellon said in a statement: “The appointment of James Taylor as Head of FX Electronic Markets Sales is an important hire as BNY Mellon’s Markets business builds out its FX platform to better meet the ongoing needs of its global clients."

8.9

Michael Birshan

The former regional sales manager for Bloomberg has joined Symphony Communication Services as a senior account manager.

Symphony was launched in 2015 and is seen as being in a direct battle with Bloomberg with its messaging system for traders - thus, this appointment has heightened significance.

“I chose to join Symphony as I wanted to be part of something big. There was a clear gap in the market for an enterprise-wide collaboration solution which was Cloud -based and secure,” explained Mr. Birshan.