The 76 most desirable algo traders in London

Algorithms are the future (for the majority of financial products, anyway) of sales & trading.

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The banks with the best algo trading teams, therefore, are the best placed for the future. But which banks are they? And which algo traders do they employ?

Luckily, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) can help. It obliges financial institutions to disclose everyone working there involved in “algorithmic trading”. We’ve gone the extra mile and researched who exactly these people are at leading US investment banks.

So who are they? Here’s the list. It’s long, but we’ve tried to simplify and standardize roles. Our list of titles is a good reference point for titles, if there’s any confusion. It's also a good indication of the sorts of qualifications and experience you need for algorithmic trading jobs. If you think there's someone missing let us know. If you think there's someone who doesn't deserve the accolade, let us know too.

Goldman Sachs

Andrei Legostaev – Engineering MD. Joined Goldman in 2001, straight out of university.

Xavier Menguy – Partner, global head of equity product strats. Joined Goldman in New York in 2000, straight after his PhD in mathematics.

Matthew Cox – Electronic trading tech MD. Joined Goldman in 2005 after a few years as a consultant for London firm Valtech.

Panayiotis Lemonidis – Equities MD. Joined Goldman in 2008, straight after his PhD in chemical engineering.

JPMorgan

Filippo Finelli – MD, global head of commodities automated trading strategies. Joined JPMorgan in 2010 in New York.

Chinedum Nzelu – MD, global head of macro e-commerce. joined JPMorgan in 2005, straight out of university.

Paul Farrell – MD, head of institutional clients, JPMorgan Asset Management UK. Joined JPMorgan in 2016, previously worked at BlackRock and Dimensional [what is this?]

Simon Sheffield – MD, equities trading. Joined JPMorgan in 2017, previously worked at Goldman as an equities strategist and Barclays as a senior developer.

Alexandre Tiers – MD, exotic equities derivatives trader. Joined JPMorgan in 2003, straight out of university.

Arnaud Floesser – MD, high-frequency algo trading. Joined JPMorgan in 2013, previously worked for UBS and Barclays. 

Spyridon Kalipolitis – MD, equity derivatives trading. Joined JPMorgan in New York 2015, after a seven-year stint at Deutsche Bank. 

Samuel Gundle – ED, global cash equities trading. Joined JPMorgan in 2014, straight out of university.

Bertrand Marchal – MD, head of index exotics for EMEA. Joined JPMorgan in just 2021, previously worked at HSBC and Morgan Stanley.

Matthew Wertheim – ED, electronic client solutions. Joined JPMorgan in 2018 from Liquidnet, a New York-based liquidity provider.

Divya Mohit – ED, electronic trading product. Joined JPMorgan in 2015 from Edelweiss Capital, a broad-suite financial services firm in Mumbai. 

Citi

Paul Goldberg – Director, desk head, foreign exchange electronic trading. Joined Citi straight out of university in 1998.

John Loizides – MD, foreign exchange electronic trading. Joined Citi in 2010, previously worked at WorldQuant and SocGen.

Mark Meredith – MD, head of foreign exchange electronic trading and algo execution. Joined Citi in 2013, previously worked at UBS and Barclays.

Matthew Turnbull – MD, global head of EM foreign exchange e-trading.

Alexandre Guignot – Director, EMEA head of credit quantitative trading. Joined Citi in 2021 after a ten-year stint at HSBC. 

Amar Malik – VP, algorithmic trading and product management in EMEA. Joined Citi in 2021, previously worked at Virtu Financial, KCG, and ITG.

Martin Stackler – Director, head of derivative pricing and client connectivity platforms. Joined Citi in 2012 in Hong Kong, after a four year stint at SocGen.

Yohann Freoa – MD, head of index flow trading. Joined Citi in just 2021, previously worked at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.

Suraiya Hussain – VP, ETF and sector swap execution. Joined Citi in 2016, straight out of university.

Yashar Asl – MD, head of EMEA electronic trading. Joined Citi in just 2021 from BMO.

James McGuigan – Director, FX algo product manager. Joined Citi in 2014, previously worked at Barclays and ABN AMRO.

Frederic Djidetchian – Director, foreign exchange order management. Joined Citi in 2015, previously worked at BNP Paribas and Barclays.

Bank of America

Robert DeWitt – MD, head of quant strategies group algo in EMEA. Joined BofA in 2015, previously worked at Barclays and Citi.

Lalit Singla – MD, head of global markets electronic trading technology. Joined BofA in 2007, previously worked at Sapient and Tata.

Brice Rosenzweig – MD, global head of the data and innovation group.

Filippia Emmanouil – MD, head of EMEA electronic equities trading technology. Joined BofA in 2010, after a 6-year stint at UBS.

Simon Quartermain – Director, equities cash tech. Joined BofA via Merrill Lynch in 2007, previously worked at Barclays. 

Duncan McInnes – Chief Information Officer, global markets. Joined BofA via Merrill Lynch in 2006. Was also part of Merrill Lynch 1992-1996.

Geoffroy Houlot – MD, head of EU equities trading. Joined BofA in 2018, previously worked at hedge funds Fenician Capital Management and Brevan Howard. 

Emma West – MD, global head of futures and options, OTC clearing. Joined BofA in 2007, previously worked at Goldman Sachs and CS First Boston.

Graham Wayne – MD, EMEA equity product lead. Joined BofA in just 2021, previously worked at Citi, Barclays, and HSBC.

David Shelton – MD, global head of FICC electronic trading and FX quantitative strategies group. Joined BofA in 2007. 

William Lyons – MD, head of rates electronic trading for EMEA and APAC. Joined BofA in 2017, previously worked at Jefferies and Deutsche Bank.

Deniz Gunbey – MD, head of EMEA electronic sales trading. Joined BofA via Merrill Lynch in 2002, previously worked at Barclays.

Joel Stainton – MD, head of EMEA futures & options and OTC clearing. Joined BofA in 2014, previously worked for Deutsche Bank, among others.

Nicholas Druett – MD, head of EMEA electronic trading and equity platform. Joined BofA in 2012, previously worked for Credit Suisse and Bloomberg.

Bhupen Velani – MD, global head of transactional FX. (Re-)Joined BofA in just 2022, having previously worked there between 2014 and 2021. Was at JPMorgan in the meantime.

David Thompson – Trader, delta one and ETF risk. Joined BofA in 2017 from a nearly 5-year stint at Citi. 

Daniel Bowerman – Head of e-trading. Joined BofA in 2018, previously worked for Nomura and Citi.

Ashish Pabalkar – MD, global head of e-trading product governance & controls. Joined BofA in 2017, previously worked at RBS and Nomura.

Ioannis Xanthakos – MD, head of EMEA equities technology.

Michel Stradiotto – Director, risk executive e-trading. Joined BofA in just 2021, previously worked at UBS and Barclays.

Morgan Stanley

Volkan Aktas – MD, fixed income trading technology.

Ciaran Tuohy – MD, head of automated risk trading. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2014, previously worked at RBS and Goldman Sachs.

Mikko Metsaranta – ED, global head of flow credit trading systems. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2005, straight out of university.

Andrew Davies – MD, global head of commodities technology. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2003, previously worked at Centrica.

Benjamin Gibbs – Senior developer. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2014, previously worked at RBC Capital Markets and Deutsche Bank. 

Paul Nurse – ED, global head of eFX principal pricing technology. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2017, previously worked at Standard Chartered and Barclays.

Maria Alessandra Crisafi – ED, global head of foreign exchange spot strats. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2016, straight out of PhD program.

Christopher Thomson – ED, global head of flow equity derivatives pre-trade technology. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2006, straight out of university.

Yoav Hirsch – MD, global head of algorithmic trading technology. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2002, straight out of university.

Chloe Lacombe – VP, eFX quant strategist. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2020, straight out of a PhD program.

Biying Wu – VP, rates e-trading strategy. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2019, straight out of university.

Pavel Dubrouski – ED, rates e-trading strategy. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2015, previously worked at Goldman, Nomura, and UBS.

Richard Priestley – ED, head of automated trading eFX technology. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2002, straight out of university.

Kris Davidson – MD, automated risk trading technology. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2010, previously worked at Deutsche Bank and GSA Capital.

Derek Laws – MD, head of European single-name derivatives [trading]. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2021, previously worked at BofA, UBS, and HSBC.

Nikki Rush – MD, head of portfolio equity trading and centralized risk.

Damien Murray – ED, e-trading management. Joined Morgan Stanley in 1996, had a period away from the firm 2014-2017.

Nikolai Marangozov ED, equities and derivatives systematic trading. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2005, straight out of university.

Sidharth Chaturvedi – ED, systematic strategies. Joined Morgan Stanley just last year, previously worked at Millennium, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank.

Paul Bentley – software engineer, fixed income strategy. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2011, previously worked at Citi, Lehman, and Deutsche Bank.

Thomas Klocker – Global head of fixed income quantitative strategies. Previously worked at BofA & UBS.

Maria Barron Baratech – MD, head of EMEA linear rates trading. Joined Morgan Stanley in just 2022, previously worked at Goldman Sachs, PwC, and Credit Suisse.

Alexey Afonin – ED, java developer. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2012, previously worked at UBS, Lehman, and CERN. 

Jennifer Zupan – MD, head of European corporate equity derivatives trading. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2007, previously worked at Credit Suisse and Arthur Andersen.

Sergey Ionov – MD, equity derivatives trader. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2011, straight out of university.

David Haydon – MD, head of delta1 structured swaps. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2003.

Sandro Fabian Oswald – ED, quantitative ETF trading. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2016, previously worked at Merrill Lynch, KCG, and Tibra Capital.

Tina Toni – ED, quantitative strategist. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2014, straight out of a PhD program.

Henry Chow – PM, quantitative analyst. Joined Morgan Stanley in 2014, previously worked at BofA, Barclays, and Lehman.

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