News Nuggets | 24 April: CySEC Flags 8 FX Platforms; Equiti's Sales VP Departs

Nancy Altobello Joins Market Axess

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), a company that operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, has recently announced the appointment of Nancy Altobello as the Lead Independent Director of the Board, effective from 13 April 2023. She takes over from Stephen P. Casper, who held the position of Lead Independent Director since 2012. Despite stepping down from his role, Casper will continue to serve as a director for the company.

According to Rick McVey, the Founder and Executive Chairman of MarketAxess, Casper's oversight during a time of tremendous growth, including the company's addition to the S&P 500 index, has been invaluable. The company is extremely grateful for his many contributions as Lead Independent Director for the past decade and looks forward to his continued counsel in the years to come.

FSCS Investigates Arrow Financial Services

The FSCS is actively investigating Arrow Financial Services Ltd to determine whether the company was engaged in any regulated activities that may have led to legitimate claims. Additionally, the company is one of the entities associated with claims related to the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS).

Notably, in 2017, a significant number of British Steel employees were advised to switch from their defined benefit pension to a defined contribution pension, such as a Personal Pension Plan or a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). However, by transferring to a private pension arrangement, they could have forfeited the benefits they had already accrued in the British Steel Pension Scheme.

CySEC Adds 8 Illegal FX/CFDs Trading Platforms to Warning List

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC Read this Term) has issued a new warning against eight trading platforms, noting that they have not been authorized to operate in the country. The Cypriot securities watchdog issued the warning on Monday in a statement.

According to the regulator, the websites are world-trade-center.io, financista.com, swiftpuprime.com, ocdfinances.net and ocdfinances.org. The other three are: inverbid.net, inverbid.com and inverbid.co.

“CySEC urges investors to consult its website (www.cysec.gov.cy), before conducting business with investment firms, in order to ascertain the entities which are licensed to provide investment services and/or investment activities,” CySEC noted.

Equiti’s VP Sales Departs to Start FX/CFD Consulting Business

Nilesh Joshi, the Vice President (VP) of Sales at FX/CFDs brokerage firm Equiti, has exited the FX/CFDs brokerage firm after over four years. Joshi joined Equiti in February 2019 from Dubai-based VOG Bullion where he was the VP.

The senior executive disclosed his exit on Monday through LinkedIn and announced a new venture, Artis Ventures LLC-FZ. Through the venture, Joshi intends to provide consulting services to FX/CFDs brokerages in order “to assist them with licensing, technology and other solutions.” The ex-Equiti VP plans to launch a website and other service offerings “over the next couple of weeks.”

Valley Bank Launches Platform to Boost Fintech Partnerships

New Jersey-based regional bank, Valley National Bank, has launched a new innovation platform targeted at boosting its partnerships with fintech companies in the fintech ecosystem. The new platform is powered by NayaOne, a fintech firm that connects various fintech companies.

In a statement released on Monday, Valley National Bank, which is a subsidiary of Valley National Bancorp, noted that the new platform will enable it to meet its customers’ needs “in a rapidly evolving digital environment." This will be made possible through partnerships with fintech companies, the bank said.

Stuart Cook, the Chief Innovation Officer at Valley Bank, noted that the platform will help the regional bank to “reduce the time-to-market to deliver new solutions.”

Barclays Appoints Co-Heads of Leveraged Finance

British multinational bank, Barclays, has appointed two of its long-time executives as Global Co-Heads of Leveraged Finance. The two executives are Na Wei, who was previously the universal bank’s Head of Leveraged Finance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Tom Blouin, the firm’s Managing Director and Co-Head of Leveraged Finance for the Americas.

Wei, who has also been a director at the bank since July 2007, updated her LinkedIn page with the new position. On the other hand, FN London reported Blouin's new role, citing people familiar with the development.

Deutsche Bank Hires Friederike Rotsch as General Counsel

German lender Deutsche Bank has appointed Friederike Rotsch, former Group General Counsel at Merck, as its General Counsel. Rotsch, who will be based in Frankfurt, joined the German firm after over nine years at the top science and technology company.

Deutsche Bank announced Rotsch’s appointment on Monday, noting that she will resume the role in September 2023 and report to Stefan Simon, the Chief Administrative Officer of the bank. Simon is also a Management Board Member at Deutsche Bank.

Rotsch replaces Karen Kuder who has been the German banking institution's General Counsel and Global Head of the Legal Department since 2020. Rotsch is an experienced lawyer “with deep expertise across corporate law, governance, M&A, capital markets and dispute resolution,” Deutsche Bank said.

Cboe Introduces Index for Single Trading Day

On Monday, Cboe Global Markets launched the Cboe 1-Day Volatility Index (VIX1D), a new index designed to reflect the current day’s expected market volatility Read this Term. The launch of the index comes 30 years after the derivatives and securities network operator introduced the original 30-day Cboe Volatility Index.

According to Cboe, VIX1D will calculate the expected volatility of the S&P500 Index for a single trading day.

“Similar to the Cboe Volatility Index® (VIX® Index), the VIX1D Index estimates expected volatility by aggregating the weighted prices of P.M.-settled SPX (SPXW) options with one- to zero- day expirations over a wide range of strike prices,” Cboe explained.

“Specifically, the prices used to calculate VIX1D Index values are midpoints of real-time, SPXW option bid/ask price quotations,” the derivatives market operator added.

MoneyGram Hires Ceridian’s Seth Ross as Chief Digital Officer

American money transfer company, MoneyGram, has hired Seth Ross, the former General Manager of Dayforce Wallet and Consumer Services at Ceridian, as its Chief Digital Officer. The cross-border peer-to-peer company announced Ross’ appointment on Monday, noting that the executive will lead its direct-to-consumer business and global digital strategy.

Ross, whose appointment became effective today, will report to Alex Holmes, MoneyGram’s Chairman and CEO. He will also join the Executive Leadership Team of the American firm.

“As digital transactions now account for over 50% of our money transfer business, this appointment couldn't come at a more fitting time,” Holmes said.