Graham Dick has joined Aquis Exchange to lead the recently launched pan-European equities trading venue’s sales and client relationship management team.
Dick was formerly head of business development and Chi-X Europe, the multilateral trading facility (MTF) launched ahead of MiFID by agency broker Instinet, which became the largest European stock trading venue under the leadership of Alasdair Haynes, subsequently founder and CEO of Aquis.
Aquis’ existing customer relationship management team – Sakeena Lalljee and Pasquale Crispi – will also be boosted in the New Year by the arrival of Leila Mayet, who joins from Nasdaq OMX and previously worked for Brazilian exchange group BM&F Bovespa.
Haynes said, “I am very pleased to be working with Graham again. He brings with him a wealth of experience and contacts. I am confident that Graham and Leila will be instrumental in helping us build on our successful launch as we look to roll out the subscription pricing model to more and more users.”
Dick stayed on when Chi-X Europe merged with the rival MTF owned by BATS Global Markets, serving as head of index and derivatives products at BATS Chi-X Europe. He then played a leading role in the COBA Project, an initiative aimed at creating a commercial, industry-led European consolidated tape for the European equity trading market, but which suspended its efforts in March due to regulatory uncertainty relating to the outcome of extended MiFID II negotiations.
Aquis Exchange, regulated as an MTF the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, conducted a soft launch in November, with clients performing test trades in three European markets, France, Netherlands and the UK. Aquis launched with around a dozen firms connected and plans to add a similar amount in January and to widen the number of stocks available to 1,000+ across 14 markets. More than 40 firms are engaged in projects to connect to Aquis in the next six months. The venue offers subscription-based pricing, meaning revenues are generated by participants’ message traffic independent of the price of the securities they trade.