Aritas, the operator of a block trading venue, has confirmed the departure of all of its London-based European team.
The venue operator, formerly known as Pipeline, had seen little trading in its European block crossing network, registered as a multilateral trading facility, since its launch in May last year. Volumes sank further following a charge brought against the firm’s US operations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October 2011.
In October, the firm was fined US$1 million, after the SEC found that the firm failed to disclose to clients that the vast majority of orders executed in its dark pool were filled by Milstream Strategy Group, an entity trading entirely owned and funded by Pipeline and managed by former Pipeline CEO Fred Federspiel between 2004 and 2006.
Shortly after the charge, Marcus Hooper stepped down from his position as European CEO.
Since the SEC charges, the firm has appointed former Liquidnet and ITG director Jay Biancamano as executive chairman and refocused its business on its Alpha Pro product, which is designed to help the buy-side deal with difficult trades.
While confirming the European departures, Aritas made no further comment.