Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre (CMCRC), a Sydney-based think tank that examines market structure issues, has reshuffled its management team following the exit of its CEO.
Professor Michael Atkin will replace outgoing CEO Professor Alex Frino, who will become dean of Macquarie Graduate School of Management.
Frino plans to continue his research work, which covers issues including high-frequency trading and dark pools, at his new job.
Recent research from CMCRC has found that HFT does not correlate with increased levels of market abuse and that dark pool growth in Australia could be detrimental to the price discovery process.
Aitken, who was previously chief scientist at CMCRC, has held roles at financial research company SIRCA and at SMARTS, the Australia-based market surveillance vendor that was recently acquired by Nasdaq OMX.
CMCRC has also appointed Dr. David Skellern as its new chairman who joins after a long career in the Australian technology industry with reputable organisations including the CSIRO and Radiata. He has also held teaching posts at Sydney and Macquarie universities.