PEOPLE MOVES NEWS UPDATE
Union Investment ’ s Christoph Hock is set to step away from his role as head of multi-asset trading later this year to pursue an opportunity in digital assets and tokenisation within the asset management firm , The TRADE can reveal .
Union is bolstering its digital assets division , The TRADE understands . His new role is not yet public but will be communicated in due course .
Chief executive of the institutional clients group at Citi , Paco Ybarra , is set to step down in the first half of 2024 after 36 years with the bank . He took up his role as chief executive officer of the institutional clients group in 2019 after previously serving in the bank ’ s markets and securities services business .
HSBC Global Asset Management has named Aaron Waters head of European equity trading , following three and a half years as head of equity trading at the asset manager , The TRADE can reveal . In this new role Waters will head up a desk made up of traders located across Paris and the UK and report to Andy Ho , global head of equity trading .
Invesco ’ s US-based global head of fixed income trading Glenn Taitz has left the firm to join Adroit Trading Technologies . Taitz joins buy-side OEMS provider Adroit as its head of business operations after seven and a half years with Invesco helming its fixed income trading business .
M & A
MarketAxess to acquire multi-asset algorithmic trading provider Pragma
Transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter ; follows first client algorithmic trade in US credit on multi-protocol automated execution solution Adaptive Auto-X .
MarketAxess is set to acquire multi-asset algorithmic trading provider , Pragma , for an undisclosed sum at the end of this year , subject to closing conditions .
Pragma offers algorithmic trading and analytical services across equities , foreign exchange and fixed income . Its clients include asset managers , hedge funds , broker dealers , banks and exchanges .
The platform ’ s algorithmic trading platform claims to have handled over $ 2 trillion of client algorithmic order flow in various asset classes across 50 venues last year .
“ Our acquisition of Pragma underscores MarketAxess ’ commitment to innovating , integrating , and providing our clients with quantitative , AI-powered technology solutions powered by proprietary data designed to simplify and enhance their workflows ,” said Chris Concannon , chief executive officer of MarketAxess .
“ In addition to accelerating our leadership in the fixed-income automation and algo space , Pragma ’ s years of expertise with FX algos provides a unique opportunity for FX hedging solutions for our emerging market clients .”
The deal follows the first algorithmic client trades taking place on Adaptive Auto-X – MarketAxess ’ multi-protocol automated execution solution – in June .
“ Pragma and MarketAxess share a common mission of using technology and automation to improve trader efficiency and generate superior trading outcomes for investors ,” said David Mechner , Pragma ’ s founder and chief executive officer .
MarketAxess ’ scale and resources will amplify the results we can deliver for clients with the cutting edge technologies we ’ ve built – both for our existing clients in equities and FX , and for MarketAxess ’ large client network as we continue developing new solutions in fixed-income .”
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