TheCityUK Business Council will convene the Chairs, Managing Partners and Chief Executives of around 35 high-growth, innovative companies from across the financial and related professional services industry. It will provide a forum to discuss critical cross-sectoral issues while also allowing for constructive engagement with government, MPs, regulators, and other key UK and international industry stakeholders.

The Business Council is complementary to TheCityUK Leadership Council, chaired by Sir Adrian Montague, which brings together the leaders of TheCityUK’s most senior members with ministers, regulators and stakeholders. The Business Council will meet four times annually, with its first meeting taking place in spring.

Commenting on the appointment, Miles Celic, Chief Executive Officer, TheCityUK, said, “We are tremendously excited to have Alasdair leading our new Business Council. As someone with over 30 years’ industry experience, and obvious skills in launching successful start-ups, I know he will do a fantastic job guiding it through its foundational years and ensuring that TheCityUK can speak on behalf of every sort of company within the UK’s world-leading financial and related professional services ecosystem.”

Alasdair Haynes, Chief Executive Officer, Aquis Exchange, said: “I am delighted to take on this role and look forward to working with the Business Council’s members to consider the challenges and opportunities we face as an industry in the years ahead. The UK’s financial and related professional services industry is a national asset, so it is vital to ensure the industry, government, and regulators work together to present a coherent and united vision for the industry at all levels. Doing so will allow the ecosystem collectively to operate as more than the sum of its many parts - and continue to deliver real benefits to the UK economy and society.”

Prior to founding Aquis Exchange in 2012, Alasdair Haynes was the Chief Executive Officer of Chi-X Europe and was responsible for growing the business into Europe's largest equities trading platform and into profitability before its sale in late 2011.

Before that, Alasdair spent over a decade heading up ITG's international business, pioneering the introduction of electronic trading and crossing into the European and Asian marketplaces. Alasdair began his 30 plus-year career in the City with Morgan Grenfell and has held senior positions at a number of investment banks, including HSBC and UBS.