Estonia based Retail FX brokerage firm Admiral Markets Group AS has announced that it has hired Robert Shadforth to the position of Executive Director of its FCA regulated subsidiary Admiral Markets UK Ltd.
LeapRate had reported exclusively back in July that Simon Roberts had resigned as Managing Director of Admiral Markets UK. He had joined the company in early 2017, from CySEC-licensed broker Windsor Brokers where he was UK branch manager. Under his (brief) leadership, Admiral Markets UK seems to have done well with 2017 Revenues up 58% to £5.5 million. His role has been taken over temporarily by company director Stephen Ayme.
Robert Shadforth has worked in the London City since the 1980s, when he became a regulator at the AFBD and then the Securities and Futures Authority (SFA). As Head of International Regulation in the Policy Division of the SFA, Robert was responsible for, amongst other things, leading the negotiations with the US CFTC to gain access for UK firms to US persons, and coordination with the UK Treasury and EU regulators over implementation of the Banking Coordination Directive and the Investment Services Directive. He also drafted and implemented the first UK rules governing spread betting firms in the UK.
In 1996 Robert moved to US investment bank Bankers Trust, being responsible for EMEA Compliance and regulatory Liaison. He subsequently moved to Credit Suisse First Boston to perform a similar role before joining CDC IXIS Capital Markets in 2001 as a Managing Director in Compliance. This French investment bank, through a series of mergers, became Natixis, the investment banking arm of Groupe BPCE, the second largest French banking group, where he was an integral member of the London Executive Committee.
Robert left Natixis in Sept 2017 to spend time with his family and now joins Admiral Markets UK Ltd in London as a director of the board to assist the company and group with its increasing regulatory challenges.
Admiral Markets is controlled by Estonian businessman Alexander Tsikhilov. The company is run globally by co-CEOs Sergei Bogatenkov and Jens Chrzanowski.