FIX Protocol Limited (FPL), operator of the FIX financial messaging standard, has bolstered its global strategic management team with two new appointments from the buy- and sell-side.
Justin Stephan, director of trading applications at Wellington Management Company has taken the role of co-chair of the FPL global steering committee, which is responsible for driving the cooperative’s strategy worldwide. Meanwhile, Greg Wood, vice president for Credit Suisse’s Advanced Execution Services unit joins FPL as a director and will have responsibility for providing fiscal and legal oversight and ensuring the organisation is financially stable.
FPL members are involved in a number of initiatives globally that range from helping the buy-side achieve greater transparency, to initiatives that support risk mitigation in automated trading practices.
In Europe, FPL is currently involved in an project to better tag over-the-counter equity trading data, while in the US, its members are working to extend the use of FIX standards in the country for swap execution facilities, new venues mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act that are designed to trade OTC derivatives. FPL is also engaged in a plan to develop an industry standard benchmark for latency measurement.
According to FIX, its member base has increased by over 40% since the beginning of 2010.
“I would like to welcome both Justin and Greg to their new positions and look forward to working closely with each of them. FPL continues to play an increasingly important role within the global trading community,” said Jim Kaye, co-chair of FPL’s global steering committee and director, product development, European execution services at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Justin and Greg’s deep expertise will play an instrumental role in helping to shape the future of FPL. I would also like to extend a special thank you to FPL’s outgoing co-Chair, Scott Atwell, for his dedicated and highly valuable leadership over the past seven years which influenced many of the organisation’s successes.”