BMO Capital Markets has relocated a senior member of its FX team from Toronto, and hired two industry veterans to set up its new FX sales & trading desk in London. Heading up the desk will be Lorne Gavsie, who comes across the Atlantic as director, sales & trading. Joining the firm as director & senior trader is Derek Shewring, who has previously held senior roles at RBC and Bank of America. Most recently, he managed execution and marketing at UK buy-side firm C-View. The other new recruit is Simon Watkins, who has spent the bulk of his career trading forwards at TD Securities. Watkins will be a vice-president, sales & trading.
Gavsie will report to Firas Askari, managing director and head of Canadian dollar trading, based in Toronto. “We plan to leverage Lorne and his team’s extensive expertise in this area in Europe,” says Askari. “This is a natural progression of our globally recognized position as a leader in the Canadian dollar and is in response to growing demand for niche Canadian dollar expertise and liquidity in Europe. BMO is optimistic about the growth potential that we see in this market and additional FX professionals may be added in the UK as business opportunities arise.”