Interdealer broker Icap has hired Deutsche Bank's Roy Zimmerhansl to spearhead its push into the electronic securities lending market.
Zimmerhansl, who was previously global head of securities lending sales and marketing director at Deutsche Bank, will be responsible for managing Icap's foray into the electronic securities lending market and steering the launch of its new e-trading platform which will cover both fixed income and equity markets.
Prior to Deutsche Bank, Zimmerhansl was MD and head of global collateral management at Rabobank. He has also held similar posts at Nomura and Chase Manhattan. He will be based in London and report to Garry Jones, CEO, Icap electronic broking in Europe.
Commenting on the company's move into electronic securities lending brokerage, George Macdonald, chief executive, London & Europe, Icap, says: "The time is right for the transition towards electronic trading in this sector. The market is currently fragmented and highly labour intensive with manual trade reporting and poor straight-through processing. We will be using our electronic platform to improve the internal efficiency of our customers in these markets by closer integration with their systems."
Icap said last month that it was in talks to buy electronic interbank foreign exchange dealing platform EBS. The broker said in November that it was seeking acquisitions to expand its electronic trading business following a 32% rise in e-trading volumes in the first half of the year.