Liquidnet, the global institutional trading network, announced the appointments of two senior hires to its European Execution & Quantitative Services (EQS) team. Launched in 2014, the EQS group advises Liquidnet’s buy-side Members and institutional clients on algorithmic strategies, trade analytics, and quantitative products and services.

Gareth Exton has been appointed Head of Execution Consulting and will further develop Liquidnet’s transaction cost analysis (TCA) and execution consulting services offering in both equities and fixed income. He brings over ten years’ experience to his new role. Prior to Liquidnet, Gareth worked as Execution Consultant and Head of TCA EMEA at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Mickey Senic joins Liquidnet with over eighteen years’ industry experience, most recently as UK Institutional Sales Trader for Natixis Securities in Paris and London. In his role as Execution Sales Trader at Liquidnet, Mickey will provide sales trading coverage across high touch, programme and algorithmic trading. Both Gareth and Mickey will report to Chris Jackson, European Head of Liquidnet's EQS Group.

Commenting on the appointments, Jackson said: “Liquidnet’s liquidity business is constantly evolving, and our Members need an increasingly pro-active high touch service to help them navigate a complex trading landscape. We are committed to delivering a full execution consulting service to our Members, and both Gareth and Mickey have unique skill sets that will help us deliver this.”

Liquidnet’s EQS team work together with Liquidnet’s Member community – which comprise 830 of the world’s top asset managers – to understand their investment process, analyse performance and customise algorithmic and broader execution capabilities. This is particularly important in the context of the changing regulatory requirements and greater focus on transparency with the advent of MiFID II.

Liquidnet EMEA has seen record quarter-on-quarter growth since Q4 2015 driven by the buy sides’ increasing need to source quality block liquidity. The EQS business as a whole has seen 215% growth YoY as of Q2 2016, driven by the increase in usage of its Next Gen Algo suite – up 321% YoY – which includes flagship Liquidity seeking algos, Liquidnet Dark and Barracuda.