Frans de Wit, the investment director for Treasury, Trading & Commodities at Dutch pension fund manager PGGM, has been named head of trading, following the departure of Patrick Fleur, who has joined multi-bank electronic communications network, Solid FX, as chief executive.
Appointed investment director in 2016, de Wit was previously head of commodities, a position he took on in 2011, having been a senior investment manager for PGGM in commodities since 2003. He studied economics at the University of Groningen prior to his work in the financial sector.
Fleur became the new chief executive of Dutch ECN Solid FX on 5 March. Solid FX, headquartered near Amsterdam, was founded by brothers Diego and José Baptista in 2009, with the aim of becoming the leading multi-bank ECN in Europe for institutional FX. In his new role, Fleur will work with a team of 20 professionals to further this ambition, the company said in a press release.
“Our goal is to become the venue of choice,” says Fleur. “Working closely with our clients and listening to their needs in the FX space, combined with the nine-year experience of Solid FX and their unique Solid FX platform technology, we will make a sustainable environment for our clients.”
Fleur has highlighted integration with major OMS and EMS systems as a key priority, and he notes the venue will also examine the possibilities of expanding its services to other asset classes if the client demand is there.
Fleur began his FX career in 1994 at ABN Amro as a trader, before moving to APG in 2000 as a senior dealer at the pension fund’s treasury. He switched to Lehman Brothers in 2006, but joined PGGM a year later. He has been a member of the European Central Bank’s FX contact group since October 2013, and he was a member of the Financial Market Stability Board’s Ficc market standards board between July 2015 and October 2017. Fleur was also part of the Bank for International Settlements’ Market Participants Group, as well as a member of the ACI FX Committee.
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