Commodities moves: LME CTO leaves, Cogolludo to head Citi commodities, and more

The London Metal Exchange’s chief technology officer, John Lee, will leave at the end of March, the LME confirmed. 

Lee joined the LME in January 2015 from NYSE Euronext, where he worked as global head of the project management office and IT executive for the clearing business, overseeing clearing technology at NYSE Euronext Liffe and the migration of the Liffe market from LCH to Ice Clear Europe. 

The LME credited him with overseeing IT upgrades at the exchange over the last three years, and also with implementing the technology behind its Mifid II and LMEprecious projects. His replacement will be announced shortly.  

Citigroup’s Staley makes leap to Hong Kong

Citigroup’s global head of commodities, Stuart Staley (far right), is to move from London to Hong Kong to take up a new role as head of markets and securities services for Asia. 

His replacement is José Cogolludo (right), the bank’s head of sales for commodity derivatives. Cogolludo will report to the London head of markets and securities services, Paco Ybarra. 

Cogolludo joined Citi in November 2012 from BNP Paribas, where he was global head of commodity derivatives sales from May 2007 – a period that included rapid change in the commodity derivatives business, as institutions reacted to the drying-up of funding and capital in response to the financial crisis, as he told Energy Risk in 2012.  

Goldman commodities franchise head makes Citadel move

Will Evans, previously franchise manager of Goldman Sachs’ global commodities business, is leaving for Citadel, where he will take on the role of commodities chief operating officer. Evans will join in April and will report to the head of commodities, Sebastian Barrack, who joined Citadel himself in July last year. 

Evans had worked for Goldman Sachs since 2006, in London, Singapore and New York; at Citadel he will be based in Chicago. 

Aquila expands in Amsterdam

US investment management firm Aquila Capital has continued its European expansion with the opening of a new Amsterdam office. 

The investment manager highlighted the Netherlands’ transition to renewable energy as an important reason for the expansion: it currently manages several renewable energy investment mandates on behalf of institutional investors. 

The office will be led by the head of client advisory international, Oldrik Verloop, and the newly-appointed head of the Netherlands, Emke Bus. Bus was previously managing director of environmental, social and governance and infrastructure at GRESB, the Netherlands-based ESG assessment service. 

Previously, she worked as a senior portfolio manager at Achmea Investment Management, specialising in infrastructure and private equity.