Chi-X Europe, a pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF), has appointed a prominent buy-side head trader as a non-executive director. Tony Whalley, investment director at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), has joined the MTF. The appointment will not affect his existing duties at SWIP.
Whalley was attracted to the position because it gives him a chance to have a say in the future of the European trading landscape. “It’s all very well sitting on the sidelines pontificating about various new exchanges, how they’re going to work, what they’re doing well and what they’re doing badly, but to be offered the opportunity to influence one from the inside rather than from the outside looking in is absolutely fantastic,” he told theTRADEnews.
In the role, Whalley will effectively open a communications channel between the traders and the MTF. “I would imagine that the vast majority of the time will be spent acting as a sounding board from a buy-side perspective, and secondly acting as an interface for anyone from the buy-side or sell-side who wishes to ask questions about the way the whole thing is going to work,” he says.
Whalley is no stranger to advising trading venues. He is a member of the London Stock Exchange’s institutional advisory group, and has previously served as a non-executive director of OMLX, the London-based securities and derivatives exchange. He was also a member of the market advisory board of LIFFE. “I’ve tried in the past to take a fairly active role in the advent of new markets and trading platforms, and this is one where I feel hopefully I’ll be able to provide a positive input on what’s going on.”