BATS makes first senior appointments in Europe

US ECN operator BATS has appointed a CEO and COO for its new European trading platform, scheduled for launch later in 2008.
By None

US ECN operator BATS has appointed a CEO and COO for its new European trading platform, scheduled for launch later in 2008.

The platform has named Mark Hemsley as CEO and Paul O’Donnell as COO. Both appointments were made by BATS’ senior vice-president of business development, Ken Conklin, and are the first two official appointments of BATS Trading (Europe).

Hemsley is a former Euronext LIFFE executive. While there he worked for the market solutions group, and was heavily involved with the sale of LIFFE to Euronext. He was also the founder of Belvedere Hill, a London-based corporate advisory company. In addition, he has managed teams worldwide at Deutsche Bank as MD of global technology, and was global head of FX technology at Credit Suisse First Boston.

O’Donnell is a 14-year veteran of Morgan Stanley, where his most recent position was as an executive director of the institutional equities division. In this role he was responsible for architecture, planning, deployment and operations of algorithmic trading and smart order routing.

“Mark’s background and knowledge of the European market gives us a significant leg up in the region,” said Joe Ratterman, chief executive, BATS, in a statement. “Similarly, we were drawn to Paul’s vast work experience, which includes success in Australia, Japan and the US, much of it in the electronic trading space.”

Hemsley said, “I look forward to building a strong, cohesive team which will live up to the BATS’ credo of ‘making markets better.’” O’Donnell added, “It has been impressive to witness BATS’ impact in the US market and I’m excited to continue partnering with Morgan Stanley and the broker dealer community to produce similar results abroad.”

«