Thomson Reuters restructuring hits FX as Glocer departs

Organisational changes at Thomson Reuters have affected its foreign exchange business, as the company restructures its operations around five key business lines. The move was announced on December 1 to coincide with the retirement of chief executive Thomas Glocer at the end of this month.

As part of the restructuring, the vendor will create a new business line, known as ‘global growth organisation’, headed by Shanker Ramamurthy, who joined from IBM in June to succeed Mark Redwood as president of sales and trading within the former markets division. A further business line known as ‘financial and risk’ will be headed by David Craig.

It is not yet known exactly what the two units will cover, but Thomson Reuters recently created another group, known as ‘marketplaces’, to encompass  the vendor’s anonymous FX matching and conversational dealing platforms.

Paul Allmark, previously global head of electronic trading, becomes head of Europe for marketplaces, and Paul Clarke, former global head of product management, becomes head of product management for marketplaces. Robin Poynder, former head of FX and money markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, becomes head of regulation within the new group.

Allmark, Clarke and Poynder are all based in London and report locally to Jas Singh, managing director of the marketplaces group.

Thomson Reuters is bringing together the power of all of its global financial markets communities and trading venues into one division where we can then focus on the content, infrastructure, distribution and end-to-end workflow needed to simplify how customers can access and transact across multiple communities

“Thomson Reuters is bringing together the power of all of its global financial markets communities and trading venues into one division where we can then focus on the content, infrastructure, distribution and end-to-end workflow needed to simplify how customers access and transact across multiple communities,” said a spokeswoman for Thomson Reuters.

It is also understood the role of Mark Kiley, global head of sales for treasury transaction services, has been made redundant and he will leave the company in early 2012. Kiley joined Reuters in 1994 and had headed global sales for the firm’s FX matching products for more than 10 years. He relocated from London to Dubai in mid-2009, reporting to Singh.

Thomson Reuters declined to comment on redundancies, but it has seen a number of other departures from its FX and money markets business in recent months, including Ed Nelson, head of marketing for treasury, who took voluntary redundancy earlier this year. Nelson also reported to Singh.

Other departures include John Moorhouse, head of FX propositions, who left after more than 15 years and joined FXall; Rich Kiel, global head of post-trade services, who joined UBS Global Asset Management; and John Van Der Westhuizen, business development manager for treasury transaction services in Johannesburg.

Following Glocer’s retirement, he  will be replaced by chief operating officer James Smith. Prior to Thomson Corporation’s acquisition of Reuters in 2008, Smith was Thomson’s chief operating officer.

“By the end of this year, the organisational, strategy and budget work I have been leading will be complete, and the transition plan I launched last summer will have achieved its objectives. Jim Smith is a talented executive with whom I have worked closely over the past four years; he is ready to lead Thomson Reuters,” said Glocer.