Clear Street has snapped-up several industry heavyweights including Robert Chiuch, James McDonald and Mark Skowron to form a new securities finance initiative, while also welcoming Vincent Avena to lead its securities lending and prime funding offerings.
The agency lending veterans have been free agents since 2019 but have now been brought together to create a new team aimed at improving the securities finance experience for Clear Street鈥檚 institutional clients.
The trio previously led global securities finance businesses at BNY Mellon, State Street and Northern Trust, respectively, and, combined, led activities for equity and fixed income securities finance programmes with assets under management in excess of $9 trillion, spanning 30 global markets.
left his role as BNY Mellon鈥檚 global head of equity and fixed income finance in January 2019, after almost eight years with the US bank, while parted ways with State Street along with several other senior executives a month later.
Based in Boston, McDonald served in a variety of roles since 1994, including his most recent as head of global securities lending.
Meanwhile, Skowron left his role as Northern Trust鈥檚 head of US securities lending trading in June 2019. He joined the bank in 2000 as head of US equity securities lending trading, before assuming his latest role in 2009.
They have now formed a new division called CS Financing Solutions, which will focus on helping institutional investors, intermediaries, and other stakeholders increase the profitability of their securities financing programmes.
A spokesperson for Clear Street says the new team will also explore new opportunities to serve a much broader range of institutional clients, such as public, private-public and private pension funds, mutual funds, and endowments.
The division will report directly to Clear Street CEO and co-founder, Chris Pento, who outlines his ambitions for it to 鈥渢ake an agile, boutique-style approach to client service, using any combination of financing, liquidity, and collateral management structures to deliver optimal results for clients鈥�.
Elsewhere, Clear Street has further added to its roster with the appointment of Avena from TD Securities.
Avena was chosen, according to Pento, for his more than 40 years of experience leading multibillion-dollar securities lending programmes at institutions including BNP, Bank of America, Albert Fried, and Montgomery Securities.
鈥淰incent will work alongside our client support, execution, financing, and engineering teams to further modernise the securities financing experience for clients 鈥� improving efficiency, increasing price transparency, introducing new products, and expanding service options,鈥� says Pento.
All four began their new roles earlier this month.
Clear Street now boasts a 12-strong securities lending team, having first formed the desk just over a year ago with the hires of , and Charles Ross, who were joint leaders before Avena鈥檚 appointment, along with Antonio Maneri.
The spokesperson adds that, under Avena, the securities lending team aims to serve Clear Street鈥檚 growing list of customers, ranging from emerging funds to established institutions, as well as set out plans for further expansion to the team and product range.
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