RJ O’Brien & Associates, the US futures brokerage, has hired Hilton Sheng as senior vice-president for structured products.

He will establish a structured products desk in New York to meet demand for exchange-cleared products. The firm wants to boost its strong showing in commodities with additions in financial derivatives this year, chairman and CEO Gerry Corcoran told FOW recently.

Sheng was a senior energy derivatives marketer for Hudson Capital Energy. He has been an independent Comex floor trader, a partner in an energy hedge fund, and a vice-president at ABN Amro.

Joseph Murphy, RJO president of the Americas, said in a statement: “As banking and other clients increasingly look to put more positions on exchange or move from bilateral to cleared over-the-counter products, we will have a strong team in place to offer a full range of services.”

Sheng said: “I believe the firm is well positioned to benefit from significant growth over the next few years due to the ongoing global derivatives reform.”

RJO has also hired David Maynard as vice-president of its global metals group. He had been in charge of US investor relations at commodities hedge fund Ebullio Capital Management.

Based in New York, Maynard will report to Janet Mirasola, whom RJO hired as managing director for metals a year ago.

Maynard began his career in South Africa with Anglovaal Gold Mining, then became a copper arbitrage trader for the UK’s Brody White. He later worked as a Ring dealer on the London Metal Exchange and subsequently joined Lehman Brothers.

He moved to California, where he worked in commodities – primarily LME metals – setting up two trading desks and running a technical trading software company. Since then, he has worked on the investment side of the market.