Torstone hires ex-Credit Suisse Sam Farrell as Head of North America

Torstone Technology has appointed Sam Farrell as Head of North America, responsible for all the US and Canadian operations at Torstone and with the mission to expand the firm’s footprint in North America, further establishing the business as a key provider within the US and Canadian markets.

Based in Toronto, Sam Farrell joins Torstone after 35 years in Canadian financial services, having previously worked at RBC, TD Securities, Scotiabank, and most recently at Credit Suisse Canada as a senior operations leader.

While at Credit Suisse, Sam Farrell was directly involved in the bank’s migration to Torstone’s Cloud Platform in 2020. He joins Torstone at a particular hard moment for Credit Suisse, which was nearing collapse and was just now rescued by the Swiss central bank with a $54 billion lifeline.

Sam Farrell joins Torstone at pivotal moment of T+1 settlement cycle

Brian Collings, CEO, Torstone Technology, commented: “We are thrilled to have Sam join the Torstone family. Sam’s vision and willingness to be an early adopter of Torstone were key to the success of our project with Credit Suisse. His experience, and in particular, with the Torstone migration, makes Sam an ideal person to step in and lead our North American business, bringing with him a unique insight at a time where the North American financial services sector faces momentous change in the move to a T+1 settlement cycle. We are confident that Sam will drive our expansion in North America, strengthen our brand, and establish Torstone as a leading provider in the US and Canadian markets.”

Sam Farrell, Head of North America, Torstone Technology, said: “I am extremely excited to be joining Torstone at this pivotal moment in the industry, especially as we approach the move to T+1 in 2024. I am honoured to be a part of the leadership team that will help drive the firm’s growth and success in the North American markets as the industry looks to modernise its technology solutions with Cloud and SaaS.”

Both Canada and the United States are planning a move from the T+2 settlement cycle to T+1 in order to mitigate risk for market participants. When the SEC proposed the move last month, Broadridge’s David Smith commented on the benefits but also risks of the change: “It’s not surprising the SEC didn’t want to delay achieving the benefits of T+1 much further than the original proposal date of March 2024. Those in the US who were planning for a transition date in the second half of 2024, will have to increase their implementation efforts quickly. The final ruling has greater implications for cross border transactions between the US and Canadian marketplace. The earlier T+1 date now intersects with Canada’s own post trade modernization project timeline. If Canada is not able to meet the earlier US timeline, you create a mismatched settlement cycle. Creating a risk between two countries that have been historically frictionless in terms of their settlement process.”

Torstone hired Yasuaki Hayashi to Japan operation

Last year, the APAC operation of Torstone appointed Yasuaki Hayashi as Senior Japan Representative, marking the continued expansion of its Tokyo office as the firm grows in Asia.

The SaaS platform for post-trade securities and derivatives processing and risk management snatched Yasuaki Hayashi from Interactive Brokers, where he was Head of Japan, and helped to set up the firm’s Japanese business in 2008.

The new Torstone executive has also played the role of Operations Director at Liquidnet from 2004 to 2008, where he set up the firm’s Japanese business.

His more than thirty years of experience in the brokerage and investment banking industry as well as his significant expertise in establishing and growing businesses in Japan will prove useful to Torstone Technology’s operation in Japan, a strong growth market for the firm which has rapidly expanded its client base and local office over the past six years.

Demand has been driven by Japanese financial institutions’ growing need for cloud-based post-trade solutions and Torstone has responded with its platform that provides greater functionality in both the wholesale and retail markets. The Torstone Platform boasts Tokutei Kouza reporting, part of its Regulatory Compliance module, which allows users to automatically calculate and pay their Japanese capital gains taxes on stocks.