Nasdaq OMX has made two key hires ahead of the planned launch of its NLX derivatives market this quarter.
NLX, which will initially offer trading in short- and long-term interest rate products denominated in euro and sterling, has added David Helps as head of business development, and Blake Stephenson as compliance director.
Helps, who previously held a similar role for fixed income derivatives at NYSE Euronext’s Liffe venue, has 25 years of experience in futures and options trading in the US and Europe.
Incoming compliance director Blake Stephenson will be charged with ensuring NLX meets wide sweeping regulatory changes in Europe. He comes directly from the Futures and Options Association and has also worked in market supervision for UK finance watchdog the Financial Services Association.
These two recent hires come after NLX added Carl Slesser last year as chief technology officer. Slesser joined from NYSE Euronext where he ran product development for its software engineering department.
“These strategic senior appointments build on our existing team as we prepare for the launch of NLX. They are well known in the industry and bring extensive experience and knowledge of our market,” said Charlotte Crosswell, CEO of NLX.
Although no exact launch date has been released, the NLX platform is expected to launch this quarter and aims to break the monopoly held by Liffe and Deutsche Börse’s Eurex derivatives market in interest rate derivatives. NLX will use technology provider SunGard’s Stream Derivatives suite of solutions and Anglo-French central counterparty LCH.Clearnet will clear NLX trades via its Synapse derivatives platform.