UBS has snagged a top trading technologist in a bid to boost its cash and electronic trading capabilities. Michael Farthing, a Credit Suisse alum, has been brought on board by the firm. Based out of London, he has joined the firm as a managing director and will be focusing on electronic and algorithmic trading technology. Farthing, a veteran with 31 years of experience, spent the past two decades at Credit Suisse. He started his career in 1987 – joining J. P. Morgan after a year as a consultant but shifted to Barclays’ investment bank in 1996, where he worked as a development database administrator in the firm’s equities IT department. In 1998, he joined Credit Suisse.

Barclays has appointed a new global head of electronic equities who will join the bank after spending nearly 20 years at Credit Suisse in various senior electronic trading roles. Naseer Al-Khudairi built his extensive career experience at Credit Suisse leading several businesses at the investment bank, including roles as head of European cash equities and head of cross asset electronic trading. He left the bank in September and in his new role will report to Stephen Dainton, global head of equities, who joined Barclays in September and previously worked with Al-Khudairi at Credit Suisse.

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BTIG announced today that it has named Matthew Partain the Head of Prime Brokerage Sales. Partain will join BTIG Prime Brokerage’s senior leadership team in supporting the ambitions of emerging fund managers and the ongoing needs of established funds. With 15 years of Prime Brokerage experience, Partain has been with BTIG since 2010. Partain will report jointly to Brian Petitt and Justin Press, Co-Heads of BTIG Prime Brokerage.

AxiomSL, the leading global provider of regulatory reporting, risk and data management solutions, onboarded James Babicz as Senior Vice President and Head of the recently opened Canadian office in Toronto. Babicz has more than 25 years’ experience in implementing risk management solutions to address Canadian and international regulatory requirements. He joins from Canadian Western Bank, where he held a senior role in risk management, directing Risk Data Aggregation, Analytics and Reporting programs. He oversaw the development and execution of multiple projects, updating and streamlining the bank’s risk management operations. Prior to joining Canadian Western Bank, Babicz served as head of risk at SAS UK and Ireland and also held leadership positions at Algorithmics, where he was involved in the development of regulatory capital calculation, aggregation and reporting solutions to meet OSFI requirements.

AXA Investment Management’s (IM) head of trading and industry heavyweight Paul Squires is to leave after 21 years with the firm, a spokesperson has confirmed. Squires first joined the firm in 1996 as an equity trader in the UK before moving to trade European equities in 1999 and then to fixed income in 2003. As head of trading, a role he has held since 2005, Squires was responsible for 31 traders in London, Paris and Greenwich in the US covering equities, fixed income FX and derivatives.

Two Sigma Investments’ head of market risk Senthi Sundaram has left the quant giant after eight years. Sundaram spent over four years as the New York-headquartered firm’s chief risk officer, before becoming head of market risk in late 2014. A spokesperson for Two Sigma confirmed Sundaram’s departure and that his responsibilities would be “transitioned to other members of the risk team”.

The C rex Group, an institutional foreign exchange execution services and data analytics company, appointed Claudio Pannunzio as Managing Director, Marketing, to lead the firm’s global brand and marketing strategy efforts. Pannunzio is tasked with steering C rex Group’s global marketing functions. , which encompasses responsibilities ranging from the execution of the company’s brand strategy to its product marketing efforts, corporate communications, and digital marketing efforts. He possesses 20 years of FX markets experience and 15 years of strategic marketing communication expertise. Most recently, Pannunzio was President & Founder of I-Impact Group, Inc. a strategic marketing, communications and branding consultancy. Prior to founding I-Impact Group, he held senior positions at a number of leading public relations and marketing firms in New York City. He reports directly to Jamie Singleton, Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has landed Jason Manske, Senior Managing Director, Chief Hedging Officer and Head of the Global Derivatives and Liquid Markets Group at MetLife Inc., to its Board of Directors. The appointment is part of a commitment by ISDA’s Board to broaden its scope by incorporating members from diverse sectors of the derivatives market. As Senior Managing Director, Chief Hedging Officer and Head of the Global Derivatives and Liquid Markets Group, Manske is responsible for MetLife’s global derivatives and currencies, government and short-term trading, structured solutions and capital markets businesses. He joined MetLife in 2008, having previously worked as Co-Head of Rate Sales at Credit Suisse and President of the firm’s US derivatives dealer. Prior to that, he worked at JP Morgan for 12 years, most recently as Head of Financial Institution Derivatives Marketing.

Synechron, the global financial services consulting and technology services provider, said Pankaj Gupta will be joining the Synechron Business Consultancy (SBC) team in the UK as Managing Director and Head of UK Business Consulting. A veteran with more than 20 years’ experience, Gupta spent over a decade at Infosys Consulting. He reports to London Managing Director Tony Clark.

Ryan Labs Asset Management (Ryan Labs), a member of the Sun Life Investment Management group of companies, is pleased to welcome two new senior members to its Marketing and Client Strategy team: John Linder, Managing Director, Marketing and Client Strategy and Robert Shrekgast, Director, Marketing and Client Strategy.

John Linder, aa 20 year professional, will work closely with consultants and plan sponsors focusing on traditional active fixed income allocations and economic crisis offset solutions. Prior to joining Ryan Labs, he held positions at Pension Consulting Alliance as a consultant to public pension plan boards and their professional staffs, CTC Consulting in research and strategy, and Alsin Capital as a buyside equity analyst, Larson Allen Weishair as manager of business valuation, and McGladrey & Pullen as a senior analyst in the financial management group.

Shrekgast will work closely with consultants and plan sponsors to communicate the value of Ryan Labs’ total return, liability-driven, and dynamic hedging strategies. Prior to joining Ryan Labs, Shrekgast worked at a credit-based emerging hedge fund in business development and capital raising. Earlier, he was part of the Loan Structuring and Syndications teams at BNP Paribas and Citibank and while at BNP Paribas, he structured and marketed bonds, credit derivatives, and securitized products. Shrekgast began his career as a Certified Public Accountant at KPMG.

Both Linder and Shrekgast will report to Chris Adair, Senior Managing Director and Head of Sales, Relationship Management and Strategy, Ryan Labs Asset Management.

In addition, the firm is also pleased to announce the promotion of Melissa Spadafora to the position of Director, Relationship Management. Spadafora joined Ryan Labs in 2016 and was previously Associate Director, Relationship Management. In this newly established role, Spadafora will continue to support Clients with bespoke client service needs, revamp the Ryan Labs’ client service platform, as well as manage the Relationship Management team. Spadafora was an Investor Relations Associate at RD Legal Capital, LLC, a niche alternative asset manager. Previously she was an Associate within client services and marketing at Chapin Hill Advisors, a Registered Investment Advisor. She will also report to Adair.