Euronext's London Exchange has appointed Chris Topple as its new Chief Executive Officer effective mid-October 2018. He succeeds Lee Hodgkinson, who left the company in April to head up a proprietary trading firm after nine years with the UK arm of the exchange operator.
Chris Topple, who worked in a variety of prime brokerage sales roles since 1993, will also assume the roles of Head of Global Sales and a member of the Managing Board, based out of London.
With over 25 years’ experience in financial markets, Chris has held a wide range of senior executive positions at global banks and is currently co-running the prime services division serving hedge funds at Societe Generale.
Chris Topple
Paul Humphrey will be stepping down from the role of interim CEO, a position he held since Hodgkinson’s departure, but will retain his current role as Global Head of FICC. He will continue supporting the core trading operations while helping develop and implement new growth strategies.
Strong leadership credentials
Topple served with Societe Generale for more than eight years and was named co-head of its prime services in May 2015. Before this appointment, he was responsible for leading the prime brokerage and clearing services sales teams globally since January 2012.
Chris joined SG from Lehman Brothers/Nomura, where he spent five years as co-head of Prime Brokerage sales. Before that, he worked for JP Morgan from 1993 to 2005 in a variety of senior roles, including Global Head of Electronic Trading Sales across Fixed Income, European Head of Fixed Income Prime Brokerage Sales and Head of European Clearing Sales.
Stéphane Boujnah, Euronext CEO, commented on the appointment: "We are pleased to welcome Chris Topple to Euronext. His deep knowledge of the industry and experience in managing sales and generating revenues both within established and Startup environments will be a great addition to the team as we continue the transformation of Euronext into an agile, ambitious and successful market operator. I would also like to thank Paul Humphrey for his contribution during this interim period and for his continued service as Global Head of FICC."
Topple added: "I am delighted to join Euronext's leadership team. There are many opportunities for a European exchange as successful and innovative as Euronext, and for that reason I am thrilled to be part of a team that is making a real difference in shaping the market structure going forward. I am also looking forward to contributing to the growth and the strong ambitions of Euronext, while continuing to focus on clients as a central tenet of our strategy."
