The Headhunter

Institutional Sales Executive - European Start-Up - based London

This is an opportunity to play a key role in building the European presence of a highly successful provider of information services to the investment community. Our US client, established in the mid-80s, provides a high-value primary research product to hedge funds, asset managers and money managers.

Building a sales team in London, you will be responsible for new business, setting the European sales strategy and positioning the product offerings in a highly competitive market. Candidates must have previous experience in building sales revenues in a start-up situation and be able to demonstrate a record of sales success. It is important that you have in-depth understanding of equity markets and a network of contacts across CIOs, Heads of Research and Portfolio Managers.

Please contact Aine Hall for more information on +44 (0)20 7392 2644

Program Manager Operations - Asset Manager - London

Our client, a well-known global asset manager, seeks a Program Manager to lead the global change agenda for their operational support team.

You'll be an experienced financial data professional with responsibilities for managing the development of requirements for the operational team. You'll ensure appropriate communication during the development cycle. You'll work with information architecture to ensure there is a defined data ownership model within the firm. You'll develop a data quality program.

You will manage the relationships with development and operational staff and you'll also work with market data vendors to assess the market data competitive landscape to provide expert advice on operational use of market data. (Knowledge of equity, fixed income and derivative data knowledge is required.)

For a confidential discussion about this role, please call Aine Hall on +44 (0)20 7392 2644.

FT Reports Thomson Cleared for Reuters Tie

An FT report this morning states Thomson Corporation's £7.9bn bid for Reuters has been approved with minimal conditions by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, paving the way for the creation of a bigger competitor to Bloomberg in financial information. Hemscott reports the merger is expected to complete in the week of April 13.

The article cites David Anderson of Inside Market Data Reference who points out "regulators have focused on the most obvious areas of overlap and it has to be said that overlap was always minimal...The bigger questions relate to whether the new merged Thomson Reuters entity can present a more effective competitive challenge to the seeming might of Bloomberg - not forgetting the recent rise of smaller competitors like Factset and Markit."

The FT goes on to say the regulators focused on activities away from the trading floors where Reuters and Thomson Financial make most of their revenues, looking instead at research and asset management.

Their concerns centred on aftermarket broker research reports, earnings estimates, fundamental financial data and economic data.

Thomson agreed to sell a copy of its Thomson Fundamentals (Worldscope) database and Reuters has agreed to sell copies of the Reuters Estimates, Reuters Aftermarket Research and Reuters Economics (EcoWin) databases.

Report Shows Financial Information and Analysis Spend Topped USD23 Billion in 2007

A report earlier this month by Burton Taylor International Consulting LLC shows the global spend for financial information and analysis topped USD23 billion in 2007. It states that roughly half this spend came from the Americas and almost 30% occurred in the Fixed Income/Foreign Exchange (FX) Sales & Trading segment.

The report claims that worldwide information and analysis spend by the corporate and financial services sectors grew 4.9% in 2007. They predict a growth rate of just over 6% for 2008, to USD24.4 billion.

They also comment on the pending merger of Thomson and Reuters. They cite the new combination will have a 32% share of this USD23 billion market.

Burton Taylor asks if the new combination seek to maintain a dominant position in the low margin Wealth Management segment. They wonder how the Investext, FirstCall and Multex franchises will be impacted? They ask which company will step-up alongside Thomson-Reuters and Bloomberg to form the new “Big 3?”

This news item is from Bobsguide.

Product Specialist - Equity Analytics - based London, European Travel

Our client is a subsidiary of a large multi-national firm. They produce equity research solutions for buy-side and sell-side firms across the globe.

This is an opportunity to be a product expert in helping buy-side firms manage their equity research workflow solutions. You will also be the person who will provide product knowledge and support to our client's sales, account management and product development teams. You will work with Heads of Research and Chief Investment Officers.

As well as having an in depth knowledge of equity research processes, you will be a self-starter. Whilst this role is not quota bearing, you will be working towards increasing revenues.

For a confidential discussion, please contact Aine Hall on +44 (0)20 7392 2644.

Head of Data Services - based London - Reference Data

Our client is a global firm with wholesale and retail financial products. We are working with their data business division which has a suite of reference data products used by buy-side and sell-side firms.

We seek a Head of Data Services to oversee several data departments including procurement, automation, analysis and production services.

You will have an in depth knowledge of exchange data, excellent negotiation skills as well as management experience.

For a confidential discussion, please contact Aine Hall on +44 (0)20 7392 2644.

Banks to Launch Derivatives Exchange

An FT report today announces that a group of Europe's biggest banks are preparing to launch a new trading platform for financial derivatives, going under the codename Project Rainbow, to compete with the region's exchanges. They cite the institutions involved include Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, MF Global, NewEdge and UBS.

The new platform is seeking to initially offer trading in two key contracts, the short-term interest rates futures denominated in sterling and in Euribor, competing with those among the most actively traded on Liffe, owned by NYSE Euronext.

Another report says Liffe has cited its technology and years of experience to defend itself against the impending threat of the new rival.