ULTUMUS Hires Ex-Legal and General Exec to Head Up Index Operations

ULTUMUS, a provider of data creation, management and distribution services for index and ETF products, has hired Daniel Hodgetts as index operations head. Hodgetts will lead the global index and ETF support team based in London and Singapore, and assist in the support of key clients as ULTUMUS rolls out its managed data service to a growing number of asset managers, investments banks and exchanges. He joins from Legal and General, where he was primary support lead for key index benchmark providers and aggregators. He has previously held positions at FTSE Russell and S&P.

Itiviti Names Head of Customer Success

Itiviti has appointed Gavin Welsh to the new role of executive vice president, head of customer success. Welsh will define and drive Itiviti’s customer strategy, overseeing customer relations and the company’s support offerings, and reporting to Itiviti CEO Rob Mackay. Welsh joins Itiviti with more than 25 years’ experience of fintech customer support, most recently as global head of client coverage at TradingScreen.

Garry McClure Joins Delta Capital as Head of KYC

Garry McClure has joined the London office of financial services professional services firm Delta Capital to head up the firm’s KYC business, starting from September 2019. McClure was a previously a managing director at HSBC responsible for global KYC operations across investment, commercial and retail banking. Prior to that he headed up client onboarding at Barclays Capital and was an Executive Director in UBS’s global banking and markets operations business covering KYC and client data.“Key areas of banking are being disruptedby new technologies and business models, yet none more so than the area of client onboarding,” said McClure.

First Derivatives Founder Brian Conlon Dies

Brian Conlon, the Northern Irish founder and CEO of the £1 billion+ FinTech firm First Derivatives, lost his battle with cancer on July 28, 2019 at the age of 53. Conlon started at KPMG and worked briefly at Morgan Stanley and software firm Sunguard before starting First Derivatives. He listed the company in 2002 but remained its major shareholder. The firm began its search for a new CEO in May, when Conlon was first diagnosed. The search is ongoing.

Coleman Research Creates New Role for Isaac Karaev

Coleman Research has appointed entrepreneur Isaak Karaev to the newly created role of Executive Chairman. Most recently, Karaev founded and successfully exited InfoNgen, one of the first AI search engines for the financial services community. Karaev was also the founder, Chairman and CEO of Multex, a digital network to aggregate and distribute financial research documents for investment professionals and individual investors. The appointment heralds a new focus on digital strategy following the firm’s launch of a new SaaS platform in 2018.

NeoXam Hires New Data Expert

Buy-side software provider NeoXam has appointed Philipp Sfeir to head up its DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) business. Sfeir was most recently Head of Data Management at Zürcher Kantonalbank, one of the top four banks in Switzerland, and since 2016 has been President of the Swiss Information Providers User Group (SIPUG). Florent Fabre, COO of NeoXam, says: “The DACH region is becoming an increasingly crucial region in the global financial picture. As we continue to grow globally, we’re thrilled to be attracting experienced and determined individuals like Philipp to support us in our goals.”

Fenergo Raises €66 Million

Irish regulatory compliance firm Fenergo has raised €66 million in investment, according to documents filed with the Companies and Registration Office. The firm is believed to have raised the financing by selling shares to CSC Computer Science Holdings, an affiliate of US-based DXC Technology. DXC General Manager Edward Ho has joined Fenergo as a Director, according to a separate filing made by the company.

Fenergo recorded sales of €57.7 million and a pre-tax profit of €2.6 million for the year ended March 2018.

Claudia Rodriguez Joins Pega

Digital transformation specialist Pega Systems has appointed Claudia Rodriguez as inclusion and diversity (I&D) leader, based out of the company’s Cambridge, Mass. headquarters. Her role will focus on creating I&D talent management initiatives with a focus on talent attraction, development, engagement, and retention. She was most recently senior manager of inclusion and diversity in Accenture’s Global Center of Expertise.

Rapid Addition Taps Former TR Enterprise Chief Powell as CEO

High-performance trading technology supplier Rapid Addition has named Mike Powell CEO, reporting to Executive Chairman and FIX guru Kevin Houstoun. Powell is former managing director for the enterprise division of Thomson Reuters, now known as Refinitiv, responsible for the company’s core data feed and platform business under the Elektron brand. Powell has been working as a consultant and advisor since leaving TR in 2017. At Rapid Addition, he will spearhead the company’s initiatives in providing high-performance enterprise solutions for electronic trading using FIX/FAST and FPGA technologies. Says Houston: “We see significant opportunity in helping customers evolve their trading infrastructure as regulation continues to push the industry towards an increasingly electronic and transparent world.”

DataRobot Names Rob Hegarty to Lead Push into Financial Markets

DataRobot, an enterprise AI firm, has named Rob Hegarty as general manager of financial markets and FinTech with the remit to expand the company’s reach in these sectors. DataRobot helps clients build and deploy machine learning models to increase revenue, improve efficiency and client experience, and reduce risk. Before joining DataRobot, Hegarty was the founder of Hegarty Group, a research, advisory, and consulting firm at the intersection of financial markets, technology, and data. He has also held senior positions at Thomson Reuters, DTCC, TowerGroup, Putnam Investments, Fidelity Investments, and Coopers & Lybrand.