Ryland joins from SWX Europe where he was COO. Prior to that he held a series of senior equities trading technology positions, most recently at Merrill Lynch and HSBC, where he was global head of equities IT.

The appointment of Ryland as CIO completes the senior management line-up at the new venture. Earlier this month Chris Rennoldson was appointed COO and Natan Tiefenbrun as commercial director.

John Wilson, CEO of Baikal, says the dark pool is slated for launch "later this year", but would not elaborate on timing.

"Progress towards launch continues at an encouraging pace: the build phase has already begun and now that the management team is complete we look forward to announcing further technology developments in the next few weeks," he says.

However, the Exchange has so far failed to round up any new investors for the venture - following the collapse of its original partner Lehman Brothers in October - and instead has committed to a solo course of action, with a view to bringing strategic investors onboard at a later date.