Liquidity Finance Crosses Atlantic with Opening of US Office, Hires Ex-Goldman Sachs and Knight Capital Group

UK-based Liquidity Finance is expanding its activities across the Atlantic with a new office opening in Stamford, Connecticut in the US. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 05, 2013 - Headed by ex-Knight Capital Group and UBS AG Dan Mullineaux, working alongside ex-Head of EM Trading at Goldman Sachs, Robert McDonald, the expansion of Liquidity Finance to the US mirrors developments in the market, as clients are moving increasingly towards alternative sources of liquidity.

• US Office located in Stamford, Connecticut
• Headed by Dan Mullineaux, ex Knight Capital Group and UBS AG
• New US Hire: Robert McDonald, ex Head of EM Trading at Goldman Sachs
• Liquidity Finance operates with unique electronic order matching platform
• Expansion marks increasing market focus on alternative avenues of liquidity

With its unique electronic order matching platform, developed in-house, Liquidity Finance has received good traction and market shares in Europe, and will now be expanding its focus to the US and Latin American client base. Says Liquidity co-founder Faisal Mian: "The US market is a critical part of the Emerging Markets investor base and it is imperative for any serious bond trading operation to have deep roots there. In Dan and Bob, we are lucky to find seasoned professionals who have strong relationships and unquestionable integrity. This is the perfect nucleus around which we will build our North American team."

Liquidity Finance uses a unique electronic order matching platform, developed in-house, which allows it to trade with complete transparency. As part of Liquidity Finance's expansion into further emerging markets, the US team, headed by Mullineaux, will comprise a team of 5-7.

Comments Mullineaux: "Experience has shown me that there is a place for both banks and agency trading firms through all parts of the market cycle. In addition, there is a clear trend towards anonymous price matching for block trades, further strengthened when the relationships and market experience of a strong team come into play. With a platform like this, and with their established presence in Europe, we felt that Liquidity Finance was best positioned to quickly become a significant player in the US."

For interview opportunities with Dan Mullineaux or Robert McDonald, or for commentary from Liquidity co-founders Faisal Mian and Jonathan Hinton, please contact Anna Wallace-Thompson on
+44 (0)20 73992438 or email anna ( @ ) curzonpr dot com

Notes for Editors:

About Liquidity Finance:
Liquidity Finance LLP was formed to create alternative avenues of liquidity in over-the-counter trading products among professional money managers. They do so by minimising trading costs and improving the quality and objectiveness of flow information. The firm's initial focus is on Emerging Markets and uses a unique electronic order matching platform developed in-house. Founded by Faisal Mian and Jonathan Hinton, Liquidity acts in the best interests of clients by not taking proprietary positions and by charging a fixed commission on executed trades. With its main focus on clients, Liquidity's strength is the quality and experience of its people. The management team at Liquidity have an average of over 15 years of experience dealing with portfolio managers and traders and possesses a specialised understanding of the specific technicalities of emerging markets. Liquidity prides itself on providing clients with the highest level of discretion, integrity and professionalism. Liquidity has a long-term agreement with Pershing Securities Limited- PSL- (an affiliate arm of the Bank of New York Mellon) to provide clearing and settlement services. PSL assumes all settlement and clearing risk for client trades done by Liquidity. For more information on Liquidity Finance, visit http://www.liquidityfin.com

About Dan Mullineaux
As Managing Director, Global Head of Emerging Market Debt at Knight Capital Group (2009-2013), Dan Mullineaux built and managed a global team of sales, trading and research professionals focused on agency trading of emerging market debt products. In doing so, he established Knight as one of the top agency firms in the emerging markets space, as evidenced by market surveys. Prior to this, Mullineaux was Managing Director, Head of Emerging Markets Distribution for US and Latin America at UBS AG (2001-2009), where he managed a sales force focused on selling emerging market debt to US and Latin American clients, including external cash bonds, CDS, local fixed income, rates and FX. A graduate of Syracuse University and the New York University Stern School of Business, Mullineaux also worked as Senior Emerging Markets Salesman at Chase Manhattan Bank as well as Portfolio Manager, Emerging Markets Fixed Income at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He is certified in series 7, 63, 9, 10 and 24.

About Robert McDonald
Robert MacDonald has over two decades of experience in Emerging Markets. He began his career in 1991 at Manufacturers Hanover in the Lesser Developed Country debt area. In 1994 he moved into a trading role and went on to run the trading desk. Meanwhile, Manufacturers Hanover merged with Chemical Bank, Chemical Bank later merged with Chase, and Chase then merged with JP Morgan. McDonald spent this time trading Latin American Securities. In 2008 he moved to Goldman Sachs where he was responsible for Emerging Market Credit trading, which comprised sovereign bonds, loans, corporate bonds, indices, and credit default swaps. He has held the title of Managing Director since 2004. McDonald managed a team of seven risk takers with a balance sheet of US$ 1.5 billion. As a supervisor, he had a wide range of responsibilities, including accuracy of daily P&L, conforming with risk limits (balance sheet, country limits, sovereign stress test limits, jump to default limits, dvo1 limits and more). McDonald also interacted with the global account base daily as a market maker of the securities listed above. McDonald has a BA from Fairfield University in Political Science. He is certified in series 7, 63 and 24.

About Faisal Mian
Faisal Mian has worked for 17 years in the finance industry and formerly headed the credit trading desks at Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. He was responsible for assembling the market making team at Lehman Brothers and traded books across the regions. Mian has traded bonds and derivatives originating from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, among others. His client relationships include portfolio managers and traders from the US, Europe and Asia and he was involved in segmenting clients and establishing a market leading flow franchise at each firm he has worked at. Mian has also been involved in primary issuance efforts and has pitched transactions to sovereign clients ranging from Chile and the Philippines to Turkey and the Seychelles as well as corporate issuers such as Gazprom, Ras Laffan, Kazkommerts Bank and Pemex. Prior to his trading role, Faisal was a research analyst covering telecoms, utilities, banks and sovereigns.

About Jonathan Hinton
Jonathan Hinton has worked for 26 years in the finance industry and was the head of Emerging Markets trading at ICAP Plc before co-founding Liquidity. He managed one of the largest teams of EM brokers and managed to establish a market leading franchise at ICAP. He was also responsible for merging cash and CDS trading under one umbrella, the first desk in the street to do so. Jon also oversaw the introduction of the electronic trading platform to his client base. Before his 12 years at ICAP, he spent five years at Cantor Fitzgerald on the high grade credit desk and was also involved in setting up the French Franc Eurobonds desk. Jon started his career at Morgan Stanley where he worked on the High Grade fixed income trading desk that he joined from the middle office team.

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