Louis de Kock is set to depart J O Hambro Capital Management in the coming weeks, with Adam Simmons taking over as head of trading, as revealed by The TRADE. Simmons was previously a trader and TCA analyst, and assumed responsibilities from 18 October, with de Kock remaining in his post to handover until his departure on 7 December, The TRADE understands. De Kock has held the position since 2010 and his next role is so far unconfirmed. Simmons previously held positions at Charles Stanley & Co. and Lloyds Banking Group, before joining J O Hambro in 2018.
Asset manager Ninety One promoted from within for its new deputy global head of trading and head of trading for South Africa. Former head of trading for South Africa at Ninety One, Doug Blatch, has been selected to support global head of trading at Ninety One, Cathy Gibson, as deputy. He takes up the role after 26 years at the business. Chosen to replace him in his regional role is Yanela Songca who has been appointed to take up the trading reins in South Africa after serving as a senior trader at Ninety One for nearly nine years, originally joining the asset manager in 2015. He will report to Blatch.
Jonathan Tse has been appointed managing director, EMEA head of electronic trading quant analytics, platform and product at UBS, as he moves over from Credit Suisse. In his new role, Tse is set to focus on growing algo platforms, as well as working in electronic trading for cash equities, global FX, and global exchange traded derivatives. Prior to this role, he spent almost 17 years as managing director, head of EMEA AES product and global execution services quant product EMEA at Credit Suisse.
Simon Steward was appointed buy-side chair of not-for-profit member organisation for the equity marketplace, Plato Partnership, replacing Christoph Hock, head of multi-asset trading at Union Investments. Steward, director and European head of equity trading at Capital Group, has been a member of the Plato board for three years and has more than 24 years of experience within capital markets which he is set to leverage in this new role. Hock’s departure is linked to his recent career change, in which he will step away from his role to pursue an opportunity in digital asset and tokenisation within the asset management firm, focused on: token economy, digital assets, and data science.