Tradeweb, IMC, UBS and Goldman Sweep Market Talent in Hiring Wave

Tradeweb has hired Capula veteran Andy Gross as head of international institutional repo, one of eleven senior appointments across trading venues, banks, hedge funds and market infrastructure firms documented in the latest talent exchange. The moves span electronic trading, quantitative modelling, regulatory advisory and digital asset payments, and they signal where firms are placing their technology and execution bets.

Gross arrives from Capula Investment Management, where he served as head of financing. Based in London, he will oversee international repo strategy, institutional client relationships and the expansion of electronic trading solutions across developed and emerging markets. His more than 25 years of experience in global repo, rates and balance-sheet optimization include senior roles at UBS and Barclays. The appointment lands as institutional investors and dealers increasingly use electronic platforms to access financing liquidity and manage collateral more efficiently.

Where does the market-structure expertise land?

Meaghan Dugan has joined IMC Trading as managing director and U.S. market structure strategy lead. She previously served as senior vice president and head of U.S. derivatives at Cboe Global Markets, overseeing strategy and market development for the U.S. options and futures businesses. Before Cboe, she headed options at the New York Stock Exchange and held senior electronic trading positions at Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Based in Chicago, Dugan will lead IMC's engagement with exchanges, regulators, clearing organizations and industry groups as the firm navigates an evolving U.S. market structure landscape.

Her mandate is a hire with regulatory weight. A market-maker of IMC's scale faces continuous questions over options order protection, listing standards and clearing access; a former exchange executive now sits inside the firm to answer them.

What does the hiring mean for quant and e-FX desks?

UBS has recruited Mark McMillan as global head of electronic FX quant trading, pulling him from Nomura after just seven months at the Japanese bank. McMillan served as Nomura's global head of electronic FX trading and previously spent 11 years at Standard Chartered, covering electronic FX, quantitative development, product management and market data. His career also includes HSBC and Dresdner Kleinwort. The move strengthens UBS's electronic FX capabilities as banks keep investing in automated pricing, execution algorithms and quantitative trading technology.

The quant theme extends to Optiver. Andrius Jankunas has reportedly joined the proprietary trading firm as global head of quantitative modelling and strategy, returning from a partner role at Rokos Capital Management, where he held the same leadership position. He spent nearly two decades at Goldman Sachs, most recently heading commodities strats (quantitative analysts who build pricing and risk models) for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The move underscores the competition between hedge funds and proprietary trading firms for senior quantitative specialists.

Who moved on the trading and advisory side?

Liam Webster has joined Goldman Sachs as an emerging-markets rates trader in London, arriving from Barclays after nearly three years in a similar role, where he traded Polish government bonds and interest-rate products. Before Barclays he was a junior portfolio manager at Soloda Investment Advisors and spent nearly seven years trading emerging-markets rates at Morgan Stanley.

Bank of America has recruited Darren Smith for its futures and options sales business in London. Smith spent more than four years at Liquidnet, heading execution and quantitative services for European listed derivatives and focusing on institutional agency execution (execution in which the broker acts purely as agent, without trading against the client). Before that he logged 15 years at UBS across Delta One trading, fixed income futures and options strategy, and exchange-traded derivatives sales.

Lobna Jallouli has joined Kaizen as head of advisory services from DTCC Consulting Services, where she was director and head of regulatory reporting. She brings more than 15 years of capital-markets experience, including positions at Société Générale and Quorsus, and will lead Kaizen's advisory business on regulatory reporting, data quality and compliance challenges.

What about hedge funds, digital assets and infrastructure?

Balyasny Asset Management is reportedly preparing to recruit Noah Hornstrom as a senior portfolio manager for its Corbets Capital equities platform. Hornstrom spent more than a decade at Citadel, most recently managing equities investments within its Ashler Capital business, and is expected to join Balyasny in 2027, though no start date has been disclosed.

B2C2 has appointed Elizabeth Rossiello chief operating officer. Rossiello founded BitPesa in Nairobi in 2013 and built it into AZA Finance, a regulated cross-border payments company that has processed more than $9 billion in transactions. At the institutional digital asset liquidity provider, she will support expansion in institutional stablecoin liquidity and digital asset payments.

How is Euroclear reshuffling leadership?

Euroclear has named Guillaume Eliet incoming CEO of Euroclear Bank, succeeding Peter Sneyers, who retires at the end of 2026. Eliet, currently group chief risk officer, previously headed the Euroclear ESES central securities depositories (national securities settlement systems operated by the group) after earlier service at France's regulator, the AMF. His appointment takes effect January 1, 2027, subject to regulatory approval.

Marie-Anne Haegeman succeeds Eliet as group chief risk officer, also effective January 1, 2027, subject to approval. She currently serves as chief banking and network officer at Euroclear Bank and previously held chief risk officer roles at Euroclear Bank and KBC. The reshuffle arrives as Euroclear confronts settlement modernization and growing demands on European market infrastructure.

What does the issuer-services picture look like?

OTC Markets Group has recruited Meighan McGowan as executive vice president of corporate services from Computershare, where she headed business development for investor engagement in North America. She previously held senior roles at Morrow Sodali and spent six years at Institutional Shareholder Services. Based in New York, she will lead the global corporate services sales organization supporting companies accessing U.S. investors through the OTCQX, OTCQB and OTCID markets.

Take each move as a data point. Firms are paying for repo electronification, market-structure expertise, quantitative firepower and digital-asset payments experience — and the flow of senior talent between exchanges, banks, funds and prop shops shows no sign of slowing.