For skilled FX technology professional Richard Clarke, last year's demise of his former employer PFG did not stunt his opportunities. Chicago-based Mr. Clarke has been appointed Chief Technology Officer of Direct FX Trading, a retail FX company which offers trading via the MetaTrader 4 platform, and is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Bringing with him a considerable amount of technical experience, Mr. Clarke previously held a one year position at a proprietary trading firm as a developer immediately subsequent to a four-year senior position as Manager of FX IT at PFG, where he had been responsible for heading the team behind the FX application suite including back office, customer portal, FIX API , order routing and post-trade notifications, with his initial year, 2008, dedicated to systems development for the back office solution.
Mr. Clarke had moved to PFG following two years as a senior systems consultant at Magenic, and a stint at Bear Stearns in 2007 as Trading Systems Devloper. Having maintained his skillset within a specialist field, namely FIX and OME Exchange connectivity, he had also carried out consultancy for Currenex, Integral Development Corporation and First Derivatives.