By Jacob Bunge
Shane Swanson, an executive who helped build Citigroup Inc.'s
(C) equity-trading business before starting a high-frequency
trading firm, has rejoined the bank.
Mr. Swanson returned to Citigroup April 29 as president of its
Automated Trading Desk unit, which trades shares with online
brokerages, according to an internal bank memo reviewed by Dow
Jones.
Mr. Swanson, along with his brother Steve and Peter Kent,
previously headed up the ATD unit that was purchased by Citigroup
in 2007 for $680 million, becoming a foundation for the bank's
broader push into electronic trading.
The trio departed the bank in 2010 to launch Eladian Partners
LLC, among a wave of automated trading houses run by former
exchange bosses and floor traders. Eladian closed last October,
seen as a casualty of a slump in stock and derivatives trading
activity on U.S. exchanges that has dragged on for several
years.
Before leaving Citigroup, Mr. Swanson had been director of
compliance and general counsel for the ATD unit. Rejoining as
president, he will continue to work with regulators and customers
of the division, according to the Citigroup memo.
"Shane will be very involved in the day to day operations of the
firm," wrote Jeff Martin, chief executive of the ATD unit, in the
memo.
A Citigroup spokesman confirmed the bank's hiring of Mr.
Swanson. Mr. Swanson did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Citigroup's ATD is the fourth-largest U.S. firm trading stocks
directly with discount brokerages, taking the other side of trades
placed by individual investors. The firm represented 14% of such
trading in April, according to data compiled by Raymond James
Financial, and ATD estimates that it regularly trades 200 million
shares per day.
Citigroup competes for the business against Knight Capital Group
Inc. (KCG), the largest such market-making firm, as well as units
of Citadel LLC and UBS AG (UBS).
Earlier this year Citigroup promoted Dan Keegan, another former
ATD official, to head all equities-related businesses for the bank
in the Americas.
Write to Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@dowjones.com
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