People moves: LME chair quits, Goldman and BlackRock lay-offs, and more

Chris Concannon has been promoted to CEO of fixed income trading platform MarketAxess, effective April 3, 2023.

Since joining MarketAxess in 2019, he has served as president and chief operating officer. Prior to that, Concannon served as president and CEO of Cboe Global Markets following the company’s acquisition of Bats Global Markets in 2017, where he had served as CEO since 2015. Concannon will continue his role as a director on the company’s board. The company’s current chairman, CEO and founder, Richard McVey, will take on the role of executive chairman.

BlackRock is also embarking on a round of job cuts after a dismal year for markets. The world’s largest asset manager is due to lay off around 500 staff, or 2.5% of the investment house’s total workforce.

The reports come as BlackRock announces its 2022 earnings results, which show that revenue fell by 8% last year, largely due to “significantly lower markets, and dollar appreciation on average AUM [assets under management] and lower performance fees”. Average full-year AUM stood at $8.9 trillion at year-end, a 4% decline year on year.

The job cuts were first reported by Business Insider.

In an internal memo seen by Risk.net and confirmed by a spokesperson, CEO David Wah announced that Giuseppe Monarchi, who served as co-head of the division alongside Deasy, will now assume sole responsibility for the division. Monarchi has spent 30 years at the bank in a variety of capital market roles.

The memo also noted that New York-based Steven Geller, who joined the bank in 1994, has been appointed sole head of global Investment Banking & Capital Markets M&A, while William Mansfield – who reports to Geller and Monarchi – has been appointed head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea) M&A.

The investment bank has seen several senior executives leave, including chief financial officer (CFO) David Mathers, since the collapse of Archegos in 2020.

Dennis Dijkstra will step down as CEO of Dutch market-maker Flow Traders at the start of February, but will remain at the firm in an advisory role until April.

On joining the firm in 2009, Dijkstra served as CFO until being promoted to CEO five years later. He oversaw Flow Traders’ IPO in 2015, after which he also held a seat on the management board. Under Dijkstra’s leadership, the company began to trade cryptocurrencies in 2017.

The current CFO, Mike Kuehnel, will take on the role of CEO on February 1. He joined the firm in 2021, prior to which he was a partner at management consultancy Bain & Company. Kuehnel previously served as an executive director at Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division.

Matt O’Neill relocated from Hong Kong to Amsterdam to join Flow Traders as global head of corporate strategy in December 2022. His primary areas of coverage include prime brokerage strategy, investor relations, M&A and the firm’s venture capital unit, Flow Traders Capital. Prior to joining Flow Traders, O’Neill spent 18 years working in a range of roles at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

The company is looking to hire a new chief risk and financial officer.

Lauren Anderson is joining JP Morgan as head of Emea government affairs later this month, and will report to Clay Berry, head of global engagement and international government relations. Before joining the bank, she worked for the Bank Policy Institute as vice-president and senior associate general counsel for regulatory affairs. Prior to this, Anderson worked at the Bank of England as both a senior policy adviser and head of European withdrawal, guiding the bank’s policy and prudential oversight on Brexit.

Christophe Gantenbein joined Geneva-headquartered private bank and wealth management firm UBP this month as senior managing director and global head of private markets institutional solutions. Zurich-based Gantenbein started in the role on January 1, reporting to Nicolas Faller, co-CEO of asset management.

Prior to joining UBP, Gantenbein headed up client solutions at private equity firm Partners Group, where he was responsible for a $1.5 billion private credit fund.