Tourmaline Partners has appointed Peter Murden as managing director – equity trading, as it seeks to further enhance its market reach, The TRADE can reveal.
In his new position, effective as of this month, Murden will be London-based and take on a client-facing role. His key focus will also be on bolstering the team of senior equity trading professionals at the firm.
Speaking to The TRADE, Aaron Hantman, chief executive of Tourmaline, said: “In response to ongoing and increasing demand for liquidity, scale and operational efficiency, along with our proven ability to partner with buy-side dealing desks – we choose to add Pete. He has well-known and deep experience in the navigation and execution of block liquidity.”
Before the move to Tourmaline, Murden was a managing director at RBC Capital Markets. Prior to this, he spent 18 years at Redburn, most recently as a partner in equity trading, before departing following the Rothschild takeover in 2022.
Murden has almost 30 years’ experience in the industry having worked several trading roles across the sell-side having begun his career at JP Morgan, then Flemings, back in 1994. His equity trading experience covers Asia, Europe, North America, and the UK.
Murden explained to The TRADE that his decision to join Tourmaline was spurred by changing market conditions exacerbating the need for alternate trading solutions: “My decision to join Tourmaline was based on a recognition that market structure changes have made it more difficult to deliver liquidity. Alternate trading solutions, particularly Tourmaline’s model, offer a compelling and exciting way to do this.
“I feel I can offer more to the end user at Tourmaline and look forward to helping clients achieve their execution goals in this evolving paradigm,” he added.
This most recent appointment follows that of four senior trading hires across 2023 by Tourmaline to help further strengthen the firm’s global trading capabilities.
Last June, the firm expanded its global trading team with two key hires in London and Sydney – Gareth Pickard and James Gleeson. In addition, former Liquidnet co-head of EMEA trading James Kirk joined as a managing director in July, with Simon Bradley and James Williams, joining shortly after.
Tourmaline’s London office is now 12 strong and includes 10 traders across equities and derivatives, as well as two OPS personnel.
Read more: Tourmaline Partners makes change to US head trader role as part of growth plans
Hantman told The TRADE that Murden’s appointment “furthers [our] footprint as a unique player in the equity trading community at an important time in the region.”