BTON Financial, an independent outsourced dealing desk provider, has hired Charles Phan as chief technology officer and Caroline Holmes as head of business development to drive the business forward and respond to increased client demand that has only accelerated in the current lockdown environment.
According to Dan Shepherd, CEO & co-founder of BTON Financial, the outsourcing of the trading desk has been a “hot topic that has only become hotter” as the industry is operating in uncharted territory and is looking to automate existing workflows, processes and for innovative ways to implement trading strategies effectively.
Prior to joining BTON Financial, Phan held senior technology positions at hedge funds, with responsibility for full stack development of distributed automated trading systems, and has traded instruments across several asset classes. His most recent position was chief technology officer at Interdax, a crypto exchange.
Holmes has over 20 years of experience working at several asset managers including Columbia Threadneedle, Principal Global Investors, BT Pension Scheme Management, Hermes and BMO GAM. She was also a senior programme and change management consultant at PwC.
Holmes believes that the lockdown will have long lasting consequences on working environments long after restrictions ease. “I do not think we will be able to press the reset button and go back to the way we were,” she adds. “This has forced organisations to get their people to work from home and made them think structurally about how they work as well as their business continuity plans.”
Phan adds that outsourcing of the trading desk will increase because asset managers, more than ever, will want to focus on their core competencies to generate alpha for their end clients.
Earlier this month BTON Financial struck a partnership with genesis, the low code application platform for capital markets, to automate trading workflows and drive front office transformation for the buyside.
