House - Issue 74
Welcome...
...to the 74th Edition of House!
Hard to believe its November already! 2021 has gone by in the blink of an eye.
As we draw closer to 2022, the market has continued to demonstrate an incredible appetite for compliance professionals, with several notable appointments across various sectors of financial services.
In Hong Kong, leading banks have continued to add to their ranks, with Standard Chartered appointing Wendy Ennis as their Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Jeffries adding Alan Law to their Investment Banking and Research Compliance team, J.P. Morgan hiring Jeffrey Wong as a Senior Associate focussing on Equities Compliance, Morgan Stanley recruiting Crystal Cheung as a Compliance Testing Manager, while East West Bank announced Horace So as their HK Head of Compliance.
Similarly in Singapore, Barclays and J.P. Morgan announced Soo Kiat Chua and Weiyang Tang as a Compliance Assurance VP and Singapore Head of Compliance respectively, while in Sydney, Westpac appointed Paul Szalaiko as their Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and Susanna Garcia as their Head of Financial Markets & Treasury Compliance.
Likewise, Hong Kong’s Insurance-space have been proactively adding to their Legal & Compliance teams, with AIA and YF Life announcing Belinda Leung and Andrew Chan as their respective General Counsels, and AIG appointing Mandy Poon as a Compliance Officer, following 11 years at AON.
Corporates too, have actively sought out senior talent, with the Hong Kong Jockey Club hiring Lucy Mullens as an Executive Manager within their Financial Crime Risk Investigations team, eBay appointing Michael Jacobs as their UK CCO, and Amazon promoting Miguel Morgado Ferreira and Gloria Furlan to Senior Legal Counsel positions.
After what has been a considerably busy year on all counts, it appears the market isn't near finished with regulatory hiring just yet...
HFT's and Commission Free Trading
For the large part of 2021, commission free trading, HFT’s and brokerage firms have been under the regulatory spotlight, as SEC Chief Gary Gensler attempts to curb financial risks, and what he has referred to as the ‘gamification of trading’.
As such, leading firms were quick to take the initiative in adding to their regulatory arsenals, with a number of senior appointments at the start of the year itself.
Earlier this year, Citadel appointed Heath Tarbert as their U.S. based Chief Legal Officer, while Natalie Rastin joined as the firm’s CCO with a focus on Core Compliance, based out of the Big Apple.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, Wendy Kwong joined Citadel as their CFO following a 15-year regulatory tenure at Goldman Sachs, Garbo Cheung was appointed their APAC CCO, while Virtu Financial announced Jennifer Chan as their APAC Head of Compliance.
Since then, the SEC have actively sought to rectify any regulatory discrepancies associated with the ‘payment for order flow’ (PFOF) model, with experts citing issues ranging from conflicts of interest, to possible correlations between ‘personalised recommendation algorithms’, financial malpractice, and subsequently market risk.
Increased scrutiny into the PFOF model, has therefore brought firms such as Robinhood into regulatory crosshairs, with upwards of 70% of their 2020 revenue allegedly coming from lucrative partnerships with industry behemoths such as Citadel and Virtu Financial.
In response to increased regulatory attention, Robinhood responded with the appointment of Jana Roemmich as their Assistant General Counsel, Citadel hired Jill Fradin Rhodes as a Corporate Legal Counsel, while Virtu Financial recruited Meghan Holleran as a senior member of their Legal & Compliance team, following tenures at Scotiabank, UBS & Goldman Sachs.
As always, Hong Kong’s market was not one to be left behind, as seen by Citadel’s appointments of Rodney Lloyd as their Head of APAC Compliance Operations, and Colin Yeung as part of their Electronic Communications Surveillance team.
We expect hiring within this sector to continue going into 2022, as regulators and leading organisations attempt to come to grips with the growing dichotomy between financial services and technological advancements. Watch this space!
All Things Crypto
The digital asset space continues to make headlines, with a series of key regulatory developments and senior hires over recent weeks.
While Gensler made clear before a House Committee that the SEC lack both the authority and intention to ban cryptocurrency outright, he called upon members of Congress to prioritise decentralised trading and crypto-markets as regulatory and legislative issues, alluding to the link between ‘stablecoins’, and their potential to evade tax, AML, and sanctions regulations.
Furthermore, growing consensus amongst regulators and government officials that crypto-markets lack basic investor protections, has prompted the creation of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET); combining the collective expertise of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery System (MLARS), Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), along with other criminal divisions, to ensure the digital asset space is brought under adequate regulatory oversight.
In lieu of these major developments, firms have been quick to expand their compliance teams, with Binance appointing former IRS Special Agent, Amjad Qaqish, as their Director of Global Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Reporting, and blockchain.com announcing former Deutsche Bank executive, CJ Rinaldi, as their inaugural Chief Compliance Officer. Furthermore, Robinhood’s crypto-wing promoted James Nguyen to their General Counsel, while hiring Benjamin Melnicki and Stephanie Zhang as their Chief Compliance Officer and Crypto-AML Compliance Manager, respectively.
Meanwhile, in news closer to home, the HKMA and SFC continue to closely review the digital asset space, as they attempt to determine the general plausibility of offering crypto-ETF’s to Hong Kong-based investors.
As consequence, we have noticed considerable movement within this sector, as a number of HK-based firms seek to consolidate their presence, as cryptocurrency inevitably edges towards the mainstream of financial services.
Since August of this year, Crypto.com have appointed Phil Leung as their Group Senior Legal Counsel, Cephas Tan as a Legal Counsel, along with Sandy Chau as a Global Compliance Advisory Manager. Meanwhile, Binance appointed Conor Crowley and Eleanor Hughes as a Senior Legal Counsel’s, with the latter being based in Singapore.
While the digital asset space continues to develop at a staggering rate, there remains much to be learned about this evolving technology. We look forward to keeping our subscribers updated on any developments within the crypto-sphere, and are confident that regulatory hiring within this sector is bound to continue, as we enter 2022.
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Movers
Global
UBS internally promoted Jake Scrivens to Managing Director & Global Head of Litigation, based out of Hong Kong.
APAC
Citadel appointed Rodney Lloyd as their Head of APAC Compliance Operations. He joins from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and will continue to be based out of Hong Kong.
Citadel appointed Colin Yeung within their Electronic Communications Surveillance team. He joins from Guotai Junan, and will continue to be based out of Hong Kong.
Crypto.com appointed Sandy Chau as a Global Compliance Advisory Manager. She joins from Neat, and will be based out of Hong Kong.
Crypto.com appointed Cephas Tan as a Legal Counsel, from Anquan Capital based in Hong Kong.
Binance appointed Eleanor Hughes as a Senior Legal Counsel. She joins from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, and will be based out of Singapore.
livi bank appointed Leo Wong as their Deputy Head of Compliance, from WeLab Bank based in Hong Kong.
East West Bank appointed Horace So as their Hong Kong Head of Compliance. He joins from Standard Chartered, and will be based in Hong Kong.
Flexport appointed Peter Chuk as Regional Compliance Manager for the APAC region. He joins from Expeditors, and will be based out of Hong Kong.
J.P. Morgan internally promoted Weiyang Tang to Head of Singapore Regulatory Advisory Compliance.
Barclays appointed Soo Kiat Chua as a Vice President of Compliance Assurance with a focus on Conduct, from GIC based in Singapore.
Standard Chartered Bank appointed Wendy Ennis as their Head of Financial Crime Compliance - Asia. She joins from Mox Bank, and will be based in Hong Kong.
Kroll appointed Lester Lim as a Senior Vice President focussing on Cyber Risk. He joins from Blackpanda Ltd., and will be based out of Hong Kong.
Kroll appointed Elaine Hung as a Senior Vice President focusing on Cyber Risk. She joins from Natixis, and will be based out of Hong Kong.
Kroll appointed Patrick Lum as a Senior Vice President focusing on Cyber Risk. He joins from JPMorgan Chase, and will be based out Singapore.
Jeffries appointed Alan Law within their IB & Research Compliance team. He joins from UBS, and will continue to be based out of Hong Kong.
J.P. Morgan appointed Jeffrey Wong as a Senior Associate within their Equities Compliance team, focussing on Equities Derivatives and Prime Finance. He joins from UBS, and will continue to be based out of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club appointed Lucy Mullens as an Executive Manager focussing on Financial Crime Risk Investigations. She joins from HSBC, and will be based out of Hong Kong.
Morgan Stanley appointed Crystal Cheung as a Compliance Testing Manager from CITIC, based out of Hong Kong.
Banco Santander appointed Ava Chan within their Global Markets Compliance team. She joins from CITIC, and will continue to be based out of Hong Kong.
AIA internally promoted Belinda Leung to their General Counsel, based out of their Hong Kong offices.
YF Life appointed Andrew Chan as their General Counsel, from Bupa, based in Hong Kong.
AIG appointed Mandy Poon as a Compliance Officer, following 11 years at AON. She will continue to be based in Hong Kong.
AMERICAS
Allspring Global Investments appointed Chris Baker as their Chief Compliance Officer, from State Street Global Advisors, based out of Boston.
Virtu Financial appointed Meghan Holleran within Legal & Compliance, from Scotiabank, based in New York.
FTI Consulting appointed Anthony Primiano as a Senior Managing Director within their Broker-Dealer Regulatory & Litigation group. He joins from UBS, and will be based out of New York.
Coinberry appointed Sheereen Khan as their Chief Compliance Officer. She joins from the Laurentian Bank Financial Group, and will be based out of Toronto.
Waterstone Mortgage appointed Kristopher Barros as a Vice President, Compliance, from Guaranteed Rate, based out of Rhode Island.
EMEA
Crypto.com appointed Naledi Ngubeni as their Head of Compliance for Africa. He joins from Luno, and will be based out of Cape Town.
eBay appointed Michael Jacobs as their Chief Compliance Officer for the United Kingdom. He joins from Crypto.com, and will be based out of London.
BCS Global Markets appointed Christian Griffiths as their Head of Compliance. He joins from Daiwa Capital Markets, and will be based out of London.
Crypto.com internally promoted Marta Andreeva to their Global Compliance Program Manager, based out of Sofia, Bulgaria.
Amazon internally promoted Miguel Morgado Ferreira to Senior Corporate Counsel, based out of Luxembourg.
Amazon internally promoted Gloria Furlan to a Senior Legal Counsel, handling Italy Operations. She will be based out of Milan.
AUS/NZ
Westpac appointed Susana Garcia as their Head of Financial Markets and Treasury Compliance, from Société Générale, based out of Sydney.
Westpac appointed Paul Szalajko as their Chief Compliance Officer for Westpac Institutional Bank. He joins from Morgan Stanley, and will be based out of Sydney.