FN Rising Star lands Cinnober CEO role
A Swedish technology provider behind high-profile upgrades at the London Metal Exchange and Brazilian group BM&FBovespa has appointed its third new chief executive this year, as it looks to accelerate growth towards a potential listing.
The Stockholm-based Cinnober has appointed Veronica Augustsson, who featured on Financial News' list of 40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Trading and Technology this year, as its new chief executive with immediate effect.
Augustsson, who was promoted to Cinnober's head of sales this year, has replaced Javier Tordable, who joined the firm in March, taking over from interim chief Per-Anders Häll-Bedman. Tordable had previously led the ill-fated attempt to launch Plataforma Alternativa de Valores Españoles, or Pave, as Spain's first alternative trading facility. The project was canned in February.
Fredrik Backlund, Cinnober's head of corporate communications, told Financial News: "Javier and Cinnober came to a crossroads and decided to part ways. There's no major drama or hard feelings involved and we wish each other well."
Tordable said: "I dediced to leave and amicably terminate my contract over management discrepancies. I wish them very well."
FN Rising Star lands Cinnober CEO role
Augustsson's promotion marks her rapid rise at the Swedish company which she first joined as a junior developer in 2002. She has worked on high-profile projects, including at the former American Stock Exchange in New York, and investment bank-led trading platform, Turquoise.
She said: "I'm very excited by this opportunity, even though it has come along earlier than I would have expected. I feel Cinnober is strongly positioned for growth, not only in the provision of trading platforms, but through systems to support clearing, surveillance, collateral management and the use of social media in financial services sector."
Cinnober was founded in a Stockholm basement flat in 1998 and now employs over 170 people. It has made no secret of its desire to grow rapidly over the next few years, potentially with a view to becoming a public company. It is currently owned by employees and private equity firms.
In July, it was selected by the LME as the technology partner for its new clearing facility, LMEClear, beating off competiion from US firm Calypso. Cinnober already delivers LMEselect, the metal exchange’s electronic trading system.
Last November, the firm was chosen to develop a single platform across BM&FBovespa's four existing clearing houses for equities, derivatives, government bonds and spot FX. The new system is expected to be implemented at the start of 2013.
The company last week appointed Michael Grecoff as head of sales for its recently launched trade monitoring service, Scila Compliance. Grecoff joined from Nasdaq OMX, where he headed sales for the exchange's Smarts surveillance products in Asia.
