Liquidnet hires Alex Grinfeld from Morgan Stanley
Alex Grinfeld will co-head the rapidly growing futures business at Liquidnet in the Americas, together with Brian Cashin.
Liquidnet has announced the appointment of Alex Grinfeld, formerly Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, Co-Head of the Futures Business in the Americas at Liquidnet.
This move is part of Liquidnet’s ambitious strategy to expand its global listed derivatives offerings, which includes the recent launch of innovative solutions aimed at enhancing traders’ decision-making and supporting automation—a domain traditionally dominated by banks.
Alex Grinfeld joins Liquidnet after Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs
Joining forces with Brian Cashin, who was previously with Bank of America and joined Liquidnet in March 2022, Alex Grinfeld will co-head the rapidly growing futures business at Liquidnet in the Americas.
This marks a significant hire for the technology-driven agency execution firm as the new executive. Prior to his impressive 11-year tenure at Morgan Stanley, Grinfeld held the position of Vice President at Goldman Sachs, focusing on Futures and Derivatives Sales Trading.
Mike du Plessis, Global Head of Listed Derivatives, said: “Alex joins us at an exciting time in our journey, his extensive experience will be integral as we launch new technology and further develop our execution services.”
Liquidnet has been onboarding top talent across the globe. In Europe, Liquidnet hired industry veterans Dan Noorian and Darren Smith from UBS to lead its Listed Derivatives team in London. With nearly 15 years of experience each at UBS, their expertise mirrors the caliber of hires in the Americas, highlighting Liquidnet’s global approach to strengthening its position in the futures market.
Liquidnet readies for T+1 settlement
Liquidnet has stepped up to help the industry prepare for T+1 settlement in the United States, which is expected to go live on May 28, 2024. T+1 Settlement is expected to provide several benefits, including efficacy, risk mitigation, and reduction in margin requirements which frees up capital.
As for industry participants, they are likely to review and enhance operational processes and aim for STP/real-time processing of allocations/settlements. Liquidnet says it will look to leverage FIX/CTM for allocations. The key processing changes include:
- All industry processing deadlines moved up by approximately 24hrs
- DTCC/NSCC will consume record later to T
- Affirmation/disaffirmation moved for 5:00pm T+1 to 9:00pm on T
- Transactions will need to be approved on RAD prior to the stat of the proposed 11:30pm ET
- CNS buy-ins will remain 48hrs/two (2) business days
- Testing Specifications
Liquidnet trades in 46 equity markets for over 1000 institutional investment firms who collectively manage US$33 trillion in equity and fixed income assets.
