BGC Partners has poached Icap’s interest rate derivatives specialist Dean Berry to lead its electronic and hybrid execution team.
According to a release from the New York-based broker, Berry will act as executive managing director in its global electronic and hybrid execution team. He will report to Shaun Lynn, president of BGC.
He was previously chief executive of global eCommerce at Icap, leading its interest rate derivatives trading, electronic trading technology and analytics strategy. He also headed Icap’s business in the Asia-Pacific region for almost two years.
Prior to joining Icap in 2011, Berry served as a director for interest rate derivatives trading at Societe Generale, and also chief dealer for Nordea’s rates derivatives trading desk.
He will work alongside BGC’s global head of eCommerce Phil Norton, who will now be responsible for all pre-and post-trade functions, market data, analytics and fully electronic markets.
The loss of Berry comes as a significant blow to Icap, which is rebranding as NEX Group focusing on electronic trading and technology. Last week it announced Gil Mandelzis, chief executive of EBS BrokerTec, Icap’s electronic FX and fixed income trading platform, will step down later this year.
The appointment signifies the importance of electronic trading to inter-dealer brokers, as they look to move away from traditional voice brokering and instead combine voice liquidity with electronic execution technology.
With the onset of the execution mandate in the US, almost a third of total trading volumes on a swap execution facility (SEF) in 2015 were executed using a hybrid model, according to a report from Greenwich Associates.
Speaking to The TRADE Derivatives earlier this year Scott Fitzpatrick, CEO of Tradition SEF, said there has been a transition to electronic execution methods in the derivatives market, however “it is unlikely it will ever go fully electronic.
“We are strong believers that the hybrid model of voice liquidity complementing electronic liquidity is the best model for this market and will remain so for some time to come.”