The reported appointment of Widmer, who left Citigroup in September last year, is the latest in a series of key moves the bank has made to boost its presence in the foreign exchange markets and to compliment its significant technological investment in the FX business.
Last month, Lloyds launched Arena, its new e-trading platform, as part its strategy to grow market share with more institutional clients, as well as enhance the currency-related risk management tools for its already strong corporate customer base.
In July, Lloyds hired Richard Chatterton as its e-commerce product manager. In August, it hired Keith Underwood as head of FX trading for the Americas and Michael Walsh, from Royal Bank of Scotland, to set up a macro advisory group to service alpha seeking FX clients. In September, Lloyds then hired Graham Harris, from UBS, to head up its financial institutions’ non-banks team.
The same month it also joined CLS, the cash-settlement system for FX markets, as a full settlement member – after becoming a shareholder earlier this year – to benefit from streamlined and standardized FX settlement processes.
Lloyds declined to comment on the hiring of Widmer.
| Screenshot of Lloyds e-trading platform Arena |
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| Source: Lloyds Banking Group |