For many Western executives, senior appointments which require relocation abroad have recently demonstrated that there is a shift to the East.
In Jennifer Granholm’s case, the eastern promise did not take her to the much vaunted Asia Pacific region, but to Abu Dhabi, where she was recently appointed as Senior Vice President of Compliance and Money Laundering Reporting Officer at ADS Securities.
Ms. Granholm joined ADS Securities just over one year ago from Alpari’s US office in New York.
Having held the position of Chief Compliance Officer at Alpari, Ms. Granholm’s appointment at ADS Securities was in the initial capacity of Compliance Manager, after which she has now been promoted to her current senior position.
Ms. Granholm spent four years at Alpari in New York, having joined the firm in 2009 as Senior Compliance Associate, following a previous compliance role at GAIN Capital.
As the continued exodus from the US market by retail FX firms has placed considerable strain on executives in the FX industry in North America over the last two years, Ms. Granholm is not the only senior industry figure to have headed eastward bound recently.
Mitch Eaglstein, former Managing Director of Boston Technologies’ Prime Brokerage division was elected CEO of Dubai-based Fortress Prime last month, with responsibility for its London, New York and Dubai operations.
Indeed, there have been very few firms which have weathered the decline in retail FX viability in North America since the inauguration of very high capital adequacy requirements which were set forth by the Dodd-Frank Act following the financial crisis.
Aside from GAIN Capital, FXCM and Interactive Brokers, there are few other firms which have not made their exodus from the market in order to concentrate on the burgeoning Asian region. One such firm that has retained more than a foothold within the US market is CitiFX, a firm whose spokesman last week elaborated to LeapRate that its assets under management have increased by a significant 18% from last year. This period includes an 18% YOY growth between 1st Jan 2014 – 30th June 2014 vs. 1st Jan 2013 – 30th June 2013, with North America being its most prominent market.