Crédit Agricole-owned agency broker Cheuvreux has hired Niki Beattie, a co-founder of pan-European trading venue Turquoise, as a non-executive director, as it awaits regulatory approval for its multilateral trading facility (MTF).
Beattie, a 10-year veteran of Merrill Lynch and one-time head of market structure at the broker, is also a member of the working group assisting the secondary markets standing committee of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
In July, Cheuvreux filed with UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to convert its BLINK crossing network into an MTF.
“Niki Beattie has been appointed an independent non-executive director of our London office board,” a spokesperson for Cheuvreux said. “She is not involved in the day-to-day operations of Cheuvreux.”
Since leaving Merrill Lynch, where she played a leading role in the consortia that established MTF Turquoise, later sold to the London Stock Exchange, and BOAT, a trade reporting facility acquired by data provider Markit, Beattie has been working as an industry consultant via her Market Structure Partners business. Beattie confirmed to TheTRADEnews.com she would be continuing to run her consultancy business.
“We are still waiting on regulatory approval for our MTF. We had expected it to arrive towards the end of August and we hope to hear back soon,” a spokesperson for Cheuvreux said.
In April, Goldman Sachs became the latest broker to launch its own MTF to complement its existing European broker crossing network. The firm received regulatory approval in March having posted its application to the FSA in November.