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Roman Lokhov, BCS |
How do you build up a top-tier institutional markets business from scratch? That was the question facing Roman Lokhov in 2012 when he took over as chief executive of BCS. One of the oldest and best-known financial players in Russia, the firm was at the time still a purely domestic retail broker. Lokhov was hired to make it international.
The blond banker from Novosibirsk was a natural choice to lead the expansion. Educated in Germany and the US, he started his career as head of the Moscow office of financial software provider GL Trade (now part of SunGard) before taking over the securities arm of Russian private-sector bank Otkritie in 2007.
During his five years at Otkritie, Lokhov oversaw the creation of a full-service investment bank, including, among other things, the opening of offices in Frankfurt, London and New York, and the launch in 2010 of the first trading platform to offer direct market access (DMA) to Russia for international equity investors.
The experience stood him in good stead at BCS. Again, one of his first moves was to set up a London office – near the top of Tower 42, with dazzling views down the river.
