Institutional block trading venue Liquidnet has unveiled Mark Pumfrey as its new head of EMEA and member of its global leadership team.
Formerly head of senior relationship management, EMEA, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), Pumfrey effectively replaces John Barker, who was removed from his post as Liquidnet’s London-based head of international over six months ago.
Per Loven, head of international corporate strategy, will retain his position and work alongside Pumfrey.
Reporting to group chief operating officer John Kelly, Pumfrey has been charged with growing Liquidnet’s European membership, revenues and trading volumes.
In his most recent position at BAML, Pumfrey was responsible for the firm’s relationships with C-suite executives at European and UK asset management firms. Previously he was head of EMEA equity sales at the firm and has held positions at Morgan Stanley and Scrimgeour Vickers.
Liquidnet provides equity block trading for more than 700 asset managers across 41 markets and reported an average trade size of US$ 1 million in Europe in the first half of 2012. The firm also supplies a suite of related services and in 2011 partnered with SIX Swiss Exchange to channel Swiss brokers’ block liquidity to Liquidnet members.
In November, Liquidnet’s pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF) had a market share of 5.57% of all dark trading on MTFs in Europe with €1.4 billion in turnover. In November 2011, the dark pool’s European market share was 4.66%, with €1.2 billion in turnover, according to data from Thomson Reuters Market Share Reporter.
“Now, more than ever, institutional investors are looking for opportunities in a market where overall liquidity has become increasingly scarce and competition more fierce,” said Pumfrey.