New Chapter

This year more than any other has been one full of challenges and change, but as an industry we are used to facing these head on; at Mako we embrace these as opportunities to evolve, learn and adapt. Over the last 20 years we have endeavoured to be a leader in this area and our sales and advisory business in Mako Financial Markets (MFM) is a testament to this.

MFM became the first sales trading business to provide the investment community with direct liquidity in exchange traded options when it was established in 2001. Since then, they have developed an enviable reputation of excellence & integrity, with a ‘value added’ service that fostered dozens of multi-year relationships with Global Asset Managers, Hedge Funds, ‘Real Money’ Clients, and Bank proprietary trading desks (in both UK & Europe). The team specialises in trade idea generation, liquidity sourcing, and high-level voice and electronic trade execution. Over their last two decades of operation, the Fixed Income team was regularly ranked number one globally on the Eurex Exchange for “total annual volume in Bund options”, an exceptional feat for such a small sized team.

As part of our evolution however, the ever increasing regulatory landscape, technological advancement and automation of trading, we find ourselves making difficult decisions. Our expertise in making markets and trading exchange traded futures and options is now the forefront of the Mako Group strategy. We believe that our sales and advisory business cannot flourish to its best ability under that strategy and have therefore, in consultation with the team, taken the difficult decision to part ways.

On the 4th of January 2021, the listed Fixed Income & Interest Rates team of Quentin Baker, Neil Leonard and Luke Blanchfield will commence employment at R.J. O’Brien, enabling a seamless transition for the continued servicing of their wide ranging client base. Johnny Glassock, who headed up the MFM Equity Division, has taken up a position as Managing Director at QED Securities (Europe). The sales and advisory team have the full support of Mako in these moves. We are indebted to their professionalism and the tremendous loyalty of our clients who have been an integral part of our journey for over 20 years. Mako continues to provide pricing and liquidity in all market conditions and looks forward to supporting the investment community going forward. 

If you would like to contact the team, you can do so at:

Quentin Baker qbaker@rjobrien.com

Neil Leonard nleonard@rjobrien.com

Luke Blanchfield lblanchfield@rjobrien.com

Johnny Glassock jglassock@qed-securities.com

Mako wish them all the best on their future endeavours.

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