The Headhunter

SEC May Force More Disclosure About Dark Pools

The SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, concerned that trading on private electronic markets may pose “emerging risks,” said the agency may require firms to disclose more information on their transactions, according to a Bloomberg report.

The report covers Schapiro's speech last Friday and states that if trading systems known as “dark pools” expand substantially, they may “prompt speculation and suspicion” about price fluctuations because they don’t provide enough transparency  Traders with access to the private markets’ pending orders also may gain an unfair advantage, she said.

“Given the emerging risks posed by dark pools, the commission will be taking a serious look at what regulatory actions may be warranted,” Schapiro said. She said she’s asked SEC staff to review ways to “best bring light” to dark pools.

Reuters' coverage of the speech cites Seth Merrin, CEO of electronic marketplace Liquidnet. ""If they do something that makes the dark pool light and eliminates the reasons for institutions to trade on our vehicles, that would be a disaster for a hundred million people out there..."

New Business Sales - Financial Market Data - based New York

Our client is a multi-national business that sells real-time and end-of-day pricing across FX, Credit, Equity, Energy/Commodities and Emerging Markets.

We seek a Business Development Manager based in New York to sell licensed data across front-, middle- and back-offices of financial institutions. The data is sold via a direct feed or over quote vendor terminals.

This position will involve direct new business sales as well as partnership sales for re-distribution of the data.

For more information, contact Aine Hall.

Conference Producer - Energy Markets - based London

Our client seeks a  conference producer based in its London headquarters to develop and organise a range of European energy market related events.

The role will involve liaising with different members of the editorial and business development teams to extract ideas, contact details and other information. But the conference producer will also generate his/her own ideas through market research and competitive analysis. The producer will be fully responsible for producing a minimum of four conferences a year in the UK and Europe.  The role will cover the original research and idea generation, through programme development, sponsorship sales, speaker invitation, logistics management as well as the successful running of the event on the day and after care.

If you have experience producing conferences and understand energy and emissions markets, including oil, gas, power and coal please contact Aine Hall.

Senior Sales Executive – Fund Administration – based London

This company is a Top 10 Fund Administrator in the United States. They have a relatively small presence in Europe but are now aggressively pushing for growth.

We seek a Senior Sales Executive to focus on new business generation in the UK and throughout Europe. Candidates should have a good understanding of fund administration, either gained with another administrator or with a software/service provider within the community.

This is an opportunity to join a credible, well resourced organisation as it develops a long term plan to build a substantial business in Europe.

For an initial discussion contact Paul Chambers.

Managing Director - Asia Pacific - based Hong Kong

This company is a high growth, privately held supplier of high value packaged software solutions within the global financial community. They have a significant portfolio of tier 1 customers and have seen dramatic growth in their business in the past 2 years.

We seek a Managing Director to lead the Asia Pacific business based in Hong Kong. This is currently a relatively small office of 6 people (with plans for growth) so it is important that any candidate should be “hands on” in their approach and willing to be closely involved in generating new sales opportunities.

For an initial discussion please contact Paul Chambers.

Sales Manager - Market Data and Research - based Moscow

Our client is a multi-national business which produces market data and research in one major sector of the financial markets. Their products are sold to investment banks and corporations and are licensed across the front-, middle- and back-offices of financial firms.

We seek a Sales Manager with 2/3 years' sales management experience to manage a small sales team. You will also directly manage some major accounts. You will be hands on and you will introduce a structured sales approach that involves selling in a consultative way to clients.

You will speak English and Russian.

For more information about this role, contact Aine Hall.

LinkedIn Faring Well in the Battle of Social Networking Sites

An article in this morning's Independent newspaper discusses which social networking web sites are on the up and which ones are struggling.

On the up is LinkedIn which is described as a networking site with a captive audience of business professionals. Users have more than doubled in the past year to 880,000 in the UK. 

The article states that LinkedIn has prospered during the credit crunch in terms of users, partly because those who have lost their jobs see it as a good way to get their CVs in front of potential employers.

Click here to read the article.

LinkedIn's own company profile states:

"LinkedIn takes your professional network online, giving you access to people, jobs and opportunities like never before. Built upon trusted connections and relationships, LinkedIn has established the world’s largest and most powerful professional network. Currently, more than 40 million professionals are on LinkedIn, including executives from all five hundred of the Fortune 500 companies, as well as a wide range of household names in technology, financial services, media, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, and numerous other industries."

Consultants - Capital Markets Advisory Business - based London

Our client, a global blue chip organisation, is building a new capital markets advisory business in London. They are providing consultancy around cash flow modelling, risk and structured assets.

We seek Consultants to advise financial firms on the complexity of securities, structuring of securities and inputs and outputs. You will also advise clients on re-classifying assets for valuations.

We are keen to meet people from backgrounds in capital markets advisory, audit, regulatory/compliance banking, surveillance monitoring, accountancy, structured finance. We are particularly interested to meet with individuals who have knowledge of asset backed securities.

These positions are being offered initially on a contract basis. They are based in London so, UK working rights are essential.

For more information, please contact Aine Hall.

Analysts - Fixed Income Pricing and Valuations - based London

Our client is a global corporation. One of their business divisions prices and values fixed income and structured finance instruments.

We seek two analysts with fixed income and/or structured finance market knowledge who understand how performance affects cash flows.

You will have good customer skills as well as very good financial modelling skills. You will have excellent knowledge of Excel and Access. You will also have very good research skills. These research roles will suit candidates with a minimum of two or three years experience in research, pricing, risk management or product control for the fixed income and structured finance roles respectively.

For more information, contact Aine Hall.

Morningstar's Investment Conference This Week in London

Morningstar's annual investment conference is being held this week in London on Tuesday 12th May and Wednesday 13th May 2009. Click here for the conference agenda.

Morningstar say the event provides a forum for Financial Advisers and institutional investment professionals to explore the issues facing today’s global market. The event has presentations by featured speakers, in-depth panel discussions and open Q&A sessions.

Dark Pool Trio Forms European Alliance

The Financial Times reports that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS yesterday agreed to allow reciprocal access to each other's dark pool block trading facilities for the first time in Europe. This move  comes weeks ahead of the planned launch by the London Stock Exchange of Baikal dark pool.

The article says the move is a sign that some of the big players that operate dark pools are trying to find ways round the increasing fragmentation of share trading liquidity across the region by joining forces in an attempt to aggregate liquidity in one place.

A WSJ article confirms that NASDAQ OMX Europe will launch NEURO Dark on May 11th 2009.

European Sales Director - Equities Trading - based London

Our client is looking to hire a Head of Sales to further establish its presence within the cash equity and equity derivatives markets.

You will run a team responsible for recruiting new customers from London and Europe across Equity markets. We are looking for a strong sales track record as well as management experience. You will also have an excellent network of pan-European sell-side and broker dealer contacts.

This role reports to the Global Head and you will be running a small team across Europe. You will be responsible for driving sales forward, creating a high profile sales plan, representing the business at trade shows, industry meetings and providing further visibility for our client's offering.

Please contact Aine Hall to discuss this role.

Trade Support Executive - MTF - based London

The Freshman Consultancy has experience of working closely with trading platforms who are building their commercial teams.

One of our clients, a multi-lateral trading facility, seeks a Trade Support Executive with very good client facing skills to join their trade support team in London.

You will deal with client on-boarding (from initial customer testing to live customer set up.)  You will also liaise with clients for any post-trade confirmation, clearing and settlement issues.

You will understand European equity trading practices either through working for an exchange, MTF or a broker. You will have direct experience of customer on-boarding, data maintenance, market supervision, surveillance and market support.

Please contact Aine Hall to discuss this role.

Senior Sales - Securities Lending - based New York

This is an opportunity for an experienced Sales Executive to build revenues for our client in the Securities Lending space in the US marketplace.

Candidates should have at least 5 years' experience within the US Securities Lending market. They should also have a network of contacts within the securities lending and borrowing market. Experience is likely to have been gained working for an investment bank or another leading provider of securities lending services. The ability to demonstrate a record of building new revenues from new clients and growing revenues in US financial institutions is essential.

For an initial discussion contact Paul Chambers.

This is an opportunity for an experienced Sales Executive to build revenues for our client in the Securities Lending space in the US marketplace.

Candidates should have at least 5 years' experience within the US Securities Lending market. They should also have a network of contacts within the securities lending and borrowing market. Experience is likely to have been gained working for an investment bank or another leading provider of securities lending services. The ability to demonstrate a record of building new revenues from new clients and growing revenues in US financial institutions is essential.

For an initial discussion contact Paul Chambers.

This is an opportunity for an experienced Sales Executive to build revenues for our client in the Securities Lending space in the US marketplace.

Candidates should have at least 5 years' experience within the US Securities Lending market. They should also have a network of contacts within the securities lending and borrowing market. Experience is likely to have been gained working for an investment bank or another leading provider of securities lending services. The ability to demonstrate a record of building new revenues from new clients and growing revenues in US financial institutions is essential.

For an initial discussion contact Paul Chambers.

Expert Networks Investorside Panel Summary

Expert Networks were discussed at last week's Investorside conference in New York.

There's a summary of the panel discussion on Integrity Research's blog. The topics covered were client diversification, product diversification and compliance.

Currently Investorside has four member firms who either provide expert networks or primary research intelligence to buy-side firms. These are Coleman Research Group Inc., Gerson Lehrman, OTR Global and S&P owned, Vista Research.

European Quantitative Research Director - based London

Our client is a US firm that is expanding its research products in Europe.

We seek a Director of European Quantitative Research, based in London with European travel. In this role you will be expected to develop research tools and explain complex investment topics to audiences of all levels.

You will be responsible for the application of our client's fund and equity research methodologies and tools across Europe. You will adapt current models/tools as well as build and develop new methodologies in line with market demand.

You will have a strong academic understanding of investment theory as well as practical quantitative research experience gained working within the financial sector. You will also ideally have practical investing experience.

You will also have excellent communication skills. Your ideas will be presented to audiences across Europe at industry events as well via media interviews, regulatory meetings and road shows. You will also be able to write methodologies/research papers/white papers for targeted distribution.

More than anything you will be passionate about investing.

To apply, please contact Aine Hall.

Business Development Manager - MTF - based London

Our client is a UK based firm. They are building a pan-European MTF for the execution of non-displayed orders.  It will offer market participants dark liquidity pool access as well as sophisticated algorithmic trading functionalities.

We seek a Business Development Manager to seek new commercial revenue opportunities, either by focusing on the distribution of existing services or by creatively developing and launching new services. This will include managing product development road maps & producing well-defined business cases.

You will understanding electronic trading products & services, including DMA, Smart Routing, Algorithmic Trading, EMS/OMS systems, including an understanding of customer demand and the competitive landscape for these services. You will also have knowledge of equity markets and have a good network of contacts across exchanges, MTFs, investment banks, brokers, EMS/OMS vendors, market data vendors etc. You will be able to demonstrate a track record in the delivery of products to tight timescales.

For a confidential discussion about this role, contact Aine Hall.

New Product Director - West London, UK

The leading information and consulting company in aviation finance seeks a Product Development Director to join its senior management team.  

The company is venture backed, cash rich and enjoying significant growth having doubled in size over the past few years.

We are particularly interested in potential candidates who have worked in a banking or trading environment generating new product ideas. You must understand databases, information and how product development works.  You will have a track record of success and whilst you do not need to be a technologist you must understand the product development life cycle.

The company has a performance driven culture and it is essential that you be comfortable in an entrepreneurial “hands on” environment and be able to take personal responsibility for delivering results at all times. You will report to the CEO and will be a key member of the senior management team.  

A competitive remuneration package will include an opportunity to participate in stock ownership.

For more information on this role, contact Paul Chambers.

New Business Sales - Post-Trade Suite of Products - based London

Our client is a small business division of a large global corporation.

We seek a New Business Sales Executive to create new revenues across a range of products. Their solutions allow firms to show transparency around trade reporting. This is in line with FSA requirements.

We seek a Sales Executive with sound knowledge of middle- and back-office business processes. You will have over-achieved against sales targets in previous data vendor sales role(s) and you will have a good network of contacts across buy-side and sell-side firms. You will also show a good general knowledge of financial markets and market regulations.

For a confidential discussion about this role, please contact Aine Hall.

Nasdaq OMX Europe to Launch Own Dark Pool in April

The FT reports this week that Nasdaq OMX Europe is to launch a new pan-European dark pool, Neuro Dark, a reference price system based on best bid and offer prices and will offer similar functionality to that of Nasdaq OMX Europe.

The article says Liquidnet, Nyfix and ITG are the leading independent operators of dark pools in Europe, with operations based in London. The UK’s Financial Services Authority is conducting a routine review of the licenses awarded to dark pools operating on a pan-European basis out of London. It has raised questions over whether so-called “pre-trade transparency waivers” given to some pools are still appropriate.