BGC taps Tradition's agency broking head for senior London role

BGC said Richard Leighton will join the group's agency broking division next month, according to an internal memo seen by FOW. Leighton, who joins from his position as chief executive of Tradition's FX and rates agency broker DeepWell Liquidity Management, will be based in London.

Leighton joined DeepWell to launch that business in September 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that he spent three years as chief executive of Mirexa Capital, another agency broker.

A spokesperson at BGC confirmed the contents of the memo but declined to disclose Leighton's new job title. The firm last month reported 2024 revenue of $2.3 billion (£1.8bn), a record which was up 12% on the 2023 total, driven by its rates and commodities brokerage.

BGC has been looking to grow its agency business to exploit an opportunity created by banks reducing support for asset managers and hedge funds. In October 2022, BGC set up Caventor Capital through its GFI subsidiary, aiming to give firms access to liquidity via matched principal services.

Previously in his career, Leighton had stints at Standard Chartered as global of head of FX and head of fixed income trading Europe, and as head of FX options in Asia for JP Morgan based in Singapore.

BGC confirmed last month the appointments of John Abularrage, Jean-Pierre Aubin and Sean Windeatt as co-chief executives, a change first announced in November in anticipation of former chief executive Howard Lutnick’s confirmation as commerce secretary.

BGC Group’s FMX Futures hit a daily trading volume record on Thursday last week as the new US rates futures market prepares to launch its first Treasury futures later this month.