Adam Toms steps down as Instinet Europe CEO

Toms, who is leaving firm to pursue other interests, will be replaced by current head of sales and trading, Richard Parsons.

Adam Toms is to leave agency broker Instinet Europe, having served at its CEO for the past four years.

Toms is to be replaced by Richard Parsons, who is currently head of sales & trading at Instinet Europe, subject to regulatory approval.

Parsons has been at Instinet since 2002, beginning as a US equity sales trader and has held a number of roles including head of international trading and head of European coverage, before taking up his current role in March 2011.

Before joining Instinet, he spent nine years on the buy-side, beginning his career at Gartmore Investment Management.

Reflecting on his time at Instinet, Toms told The Trade: “We have achieved a lot in the past four years, with improved market share and profitability and we’ve been at the forefront of innovation in the industry.”

He said product launches such as offering research payment accounts, having a 30% market share in Turquoise Block Discovery and a 7% market share on Aquis show that the firm has been constantly looking at ways to serve clients’ regulatory and trading needs.

Toms plans to pursue other interests but said he is likely to stay within the financial sector.

Parsons said there will be no changed to existing strategy which “is focused on the needs to clients and providing them with the products and tools they need to comply with MiFID II.

He added that: “The next six months will see some key developments on MiFID II and some big discussions the industry needs to have.”

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