Retail FX brokerage group eToro has announced the appointment of Lord Stanley Fink as Special Adviser to the business globally.
The company said that Lord Fink will advise eToro as it sees increasing interest in cryptoassets from institutional investors around the world. He will take on a part-time role working closely with eToro’s management including co-founder and CEO Yoni Assia, and UK Managing Director Iqbal V. Gandham.
Lord Stanley Fink was CEO of hedge fund Man Group from 2000 to 2007, and has been described as the “godfather” of the UK hedge fund industry, credited with building the Man Group up to its current status as a FTSE 100 company. In 2008 he became CEO of asset manager International Standard Asset Management (ISAM) in a partnership with Lord Levy. He remains as Chairman of ISAM, which includes FX prime broker IS Prime. In 2011 he was made a life peer, taking the title of Baron Fink of Northwood in the County of Middlesex. He has also been active in the UK’s Conservative Party, and is a former Conservative Party treasurer.
Yoni Assia, eToro
Yoni Assia, Co-founder and CEO of eToro, said:
eToro is all about providing investors with access to the assets they want, whether traditional investments such as stocks and commodities, or newer instruments like cryptoassets. We believe that in the future all assets will be tokenised and that crypto is the first step on this journey.
It has become increasingly clear that institutions and other big ticket investors want access to cryptoassets. Today, eToro has over 10 million users and we believe a key part of our future growth will come from these institutions. Lord Fink’s experience and expertise across the fund management universe is unparallelled and we look forward to working with him to further develop our institutional product offering.
Earlier this year eToro announced a $100 million financing led by Chinese, Japanese and Korean investors, followed by announcements that the company would launch a cryptoasset wallet, cryptoasset exchange, and an over-the-counter (OTC) cryptoasset offer targeted at larger investors.
Lord Fink commented:
In more than three decades working in the investment industry I have seen constant change. Yet, none of these ‘innovations’ had the potential that blockchain technology offers, with cryptoassets at the forefront. This is a revolutionary, not an evolutionary shift.
I’m excited to be working with eToro who are not only an established player with a decade of multi-asset experience, but a leader in the cryptoasset space.