Former UBS MTF chief Robert Barnes to join Turquoise
Robert Barnes joins Turquoise following a successful run at UBS MTF, which he founded
Robert Barnes, former chief executive of UBS MTF, is to take up a new role at Turquoise, the MTF owned by the London Stock Exchange. Barnes, who had been advising in a consultancy since he left UBS in February, will replace outgoing Turquoise chief Natan Tiefenbrun, who is understood to be leaving for his own reasons.
Turquoise is a pan-European MTF that operates both a lit and a dark order book. Turquoise has performed reasonably well in equities, accounting for 8.01% of pan-European market share in July 2013 – although still behind the old Chi-X Europe order book, now owned by BATS Global Markets, which accounted for 18.03%.
However, the platform’s attempts to break into derivatives have met with less success, in part due to determined opposition from derivatives giants Eurex and NYSE Liffe, which have prevented the MTF from having fungible contracts or making new products based on their own, such as the EuroStoxx50.
Barnes’ previous operation, UBS MTF, rose rapidly under his leadership to become the largest dark pool by volume traded in Europe, according to figures provided by Thomson Reuters. Barnes is also highly regarded within the industry, having served as chairman for five years on the Securities Trading Committee of the London Investment Banking Association.
Barnes is due to join Turquoise within the next few weeks.
“I am delighted to welcome Robert as the new CEO of Turquoise,” said David Lester, chairman of Turquoise. “Robert is a highly regarded senior executive, with extensive industry and market experience and expertise. His skills and knowledge will be of immense value to Turquoise and to the wider Group. I very much look forward to working with him as we continue to grow and develop the Turquoise business. I would also like to thank Natan for his contribution to the business’ development in recent years and wish him well for the future.”
