TradeZero onboards Ila Jehl, Colette Rex to lead its clearing business
New York-based online broker-dealer, TradeZero has secured the services of Ila Jehl III and Colette Rex as the CEO and COO, respectively, of its soon-to-be-launched securities clearing business.
Mr. Jehl comes over to TradeZero from China-based online broker Futu Holdings, where he was the CEO of its clearing business. He has been a mainstay in the clearing and brokerage industry, working at multiple firms. During his lengthy career, he helped in launching and managing many domestic operations of many US brokers.
Prior to Futu, Jehl was founder and CEO of MB Trading in London and Canada. Other stops include founding the registered investment advisor KIP Partners, and also served as CEO of TradeOptimizer Group Inc., which managed the technology and algorithm systems for KIP Management. Additionally, Jehl held a senior position with clearing firm Penson Worldwide for 12 years.
Meanwhile, Ms. Rex will take on the role of chief operating officer. She brings nearly four decades of experience to the role, mostly spent in the financial services industry with a particular focus on clearing and brokerage operations.
Most recently, she held an analogous role at Futu Clearing and also served as the EVP of Operations at Axos Clearing. Prior to that, Rex was an operations manager with Morgan Stanley and Grandview Group. Her career encompasses different roles at AXA Advisors, LLC, The MONY Group and the Pershing division of BNY Mellon Bank.
Commenting on the new hires, Daniel Pipitone, the CEO and co-founder of TradeZero, said: “Ila and Colette have tremendous experience in the securities clearing space. They have successfully launched and managed several clearing businesses, and we’re fortunate to have them on board to launch our self-clearing division. Self-clearing should enable us to provide new service opportunities for our customers, create new revenue opportunities, reduce costs, and increase margins.”
The new appointments come hot on the heels of TradeZero’s plans to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm in a deal that values the combined entity at $556 million.
The new company will be called TradeZero Global Inc. upon the closing of the business combination with Dune Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: DUNE) and is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under a new ticker symbol, “TRAD”.
This was the latest example of online trading brokers catching the boom of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). The most notable example was eToro and US SPAC Fintech Acquisition in a deal that values the social investment platform at a massive $10.4 billion.
