People: New brooms at NatWest and Tradeweb; MUFG splits rates, and more

NatWest Markets has promoted Jonathan Peberdy to the role of chief executive officer, succeeding Robert Begbie, who held the post for five years. Peberdy was Begbie’s deputy CEO since August last year and is a 25-year veteran of the UK bank, where he has also served as head of capital markets.

Begbie, who has racked up more than 40 years for NatWest, became CEO of the group’s commercial and institutional arm in March. During his tenure, he has held senior roles across treasury and capital markets globally – the latter spanning fixed income, derivatives, asset management and cash.

NatWest’s banking arm has also made changes to its leadership team. Imogen Bachra becomes head of economics and markets strategy, reporting to Simon Manwaring, global head of trading and sales. Bachra joined the bank as a graduate in 2014 and most recently led UK rates strategy and non-dollar rates strategy.

Japanese lender MUFG has changed the structure of its rates business, splitting it into two distinct teams: securities financing, and flow and structured rates. Securities financing is led by Andre van Hese in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while flow and structured rates is headed by Dariush Mirfendereski and Albert Chan as of June 1. Chan was previously head of structured trading, Emea, and Mirfendereski head of inflation trading, Emea. They report to Davinder Gill, international head of flow and structured rates.

Fixed income platform Tradeweb is set to make a slew of organisational changes, as president Thomas Pluta exits, effective September 30. As the firm seeks a replacement for Pluta, its US institutional teams will report into Enrico Bruni, head of the Europe and Asia business, while the wholesale and retail teams will report to Tradeweb CEO Billy Hult.

In August, Amy Clack will join as chief administrative officer, in which capacity she will oversee operations, business integration, risk and corporate services. The CAO role is newly created and was previously tied to that of chief risk officer Scott Zucker. Clack joins from Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment banking unit, prior to which she was chief operating officer for investment banking and capital markets at Credit Suisse.

Tradeweb has also hired Massimo Tassan-Solet from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, where he held the position of head of sales and trading.

Citi Securities Services has also made a functional change, moving to a global operating model for fund services. John Miller takes on the new role of global head of fund accounting and administration. In it, he will oversee product strategy, client delivery and financial performance. Before joining Citi, Miller was global head of accounting and administration at JP Morgan.

London-based fixed income investment firm KNG has hired a new head of special situations. Perikli Thanasi rejoins the firm after almost three years at Fulcrum Capital, where he was head of European distribution. Thanasi previously worked for KNG for over nine years, latterly covering credit and multi-strategy funds. In his new role, he will work closely with analyst Andrew Lee, who covers high yield and distressed credit.

Euronext Amsterdam has appointed a new CEO, effective September 1. René van Vlerken will succeed Simone Huis in’t Veld, who will leave to pursue new projects after five years at the stock exchange and market infrastructure group. Van Vlerken is currently its head of listing for the Netherlands, Germany and Central and Eastern Europe. He joined the firm in 2017, working as head of business development for small and mid-cap business. His new role will involve leading the group’s master teams and supporting its clients and partners. Before joining Euronext, van Vlerken held roles spanning treasury, cash equities and risk advisory at ABN Amro and Rabobank.

Investment giant AllianceBernstein has appointed its first chief artificial intelligence officer. Andrew Chin, a 27-year veteran of the firm, was previously head of investment solutions and sciences. During his career at AB, his roles have ranged from head of quantitative research and chief data scientist to that of chief risk officer, a position he held for more than 10 years.

LCH SA, the continental European arm of the London-based clearing house, has appointed Marcus Robinson as the new head of CDSClear and head of DigitalAssetClear, following Frank Soussan’s decision to leave the firm. Soussan also served as head of SA EquityClear and CommodityClear. Robinson was previously head of strategy for LSEG Post Trade. He reports to Corentine Poilvet-Clédière, CEO of LCH SA.

Clear Street, a multi-asset clearing platform, has announced that ex-Chicago Board Options Exchange CEO Edward Tilly is to join the firm. Tilly had announced his retirement in September 2023 but will return to the financial services sector as president of the online financial technology firm.

The Options Clearing Corporation has appointed Josh Woods of Citadel Securities to its board of directors. Woods currently works as chief technology officer at the investment firm. He has held a range of technology-related roles over the past 20 years, including positions at Oracle and IBM.

Four new members have joined the board of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation. They are: Brian Gallagher, global head of markets operations at JPMorgan Chase; Christopher Gelvin, group operations and technology office chief operating officer at UBS; Jon Herrick, chief product officer at the New York Stock Exchange; and Igor Modlin, global head of prime services product development at Goldman Sachs. The DTCC board currently has 22 members.

The Bank for International Settlements is to make several leadership changes. Monica Ellis will retire as secretary general, a role she has held for seven years. Succeeding her will be Véronique Sani, who also becomes a member of the BIS executive committee. The appointment will be effective December 1, 2024. Sani is currently president of Advasio Consulting and was previously chief operating officer at Natixis.

The BIS Innovation Hub is also expanding its leadership team with two new hires. Kamela Holtgreve will join as deputy head and head of operations. Miguel Díaz also becomes deputy head and head of strategy. Holtgreve currently works as director general for strategy and innovation at the Deutsche Bundesbank, while Díaz heads the BIS Innovation Hub’s Toronto innovation centre.

Frederic Veron was appointed chief information officer and head of the technology group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in June. He also joins its executive committee. His appointment follows a career of more than 30 years in financial services technology, most recently as a financial services consulting principal in Ernst & Young’s technology strategy and transformation practice. Prior to this, Veron held technology leadership roles at Deutsche Bank and Fannie Mae.

In the prudential space, Jean Boissinot has taken on the role of director of risk and research at the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution. Boissinot was previously head of secretariat for the Network for Greening the Financial System and is a former deputy director of financial stability at the Banque de France, according to his LinkedIn.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has appointed Stephen Byron as head of technology, operations and business continuity. Byron joins Sifma from Goldman Sachs, where he had been operations senior leader of equities post-trade transformation and strategy.

The Managed Funds Association, the alternative asset management industry body, has hired Ron Alquilist as a managing director in research, based in New York. Alquilist joins from the Financial Stability Oversight Council at the US Department of the Treasury, where he worked as a principal economist and senior policy advisory. He has also worked in the private sector for funds such as AQR and Kings Peak Asset Management.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft hired Christopher Horn as a partner in its New York office in June. Horn has taught at the NYU School of Law for the past 15 years and has overseen projects for Sifma and the Structured Finance Association.