Obituary: FX Veteran Paul Chappell Passes Away

Finance Magnates regrets to report the passing of Paul Chappell on Sunday, June 24.

We had the privilege of working with Paul in the past two years and found him to be not only exceptionally knowledgeable but also a tremendously kind person.

Here is the full announcement by the ACI UK:

It is with great sadness that we announce that Paul Chappell, ACI UK Committee Member and Director of Education, ACI Financial Markets Association, passed away on Sunday 24 June after a short illness. We extend our most sincere condolences to his wife Anne, his children and family at this very sad time.

“ACI UK is devastated at the loss of their colleague, supporter and friend Paul Chappell. Paul was a stalwart of the foreign Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term market – both as a veteran market practitioner with a long and illustrious career and as a committed proponent of industry best practice. We will all miss him very much. We extend our most sincere condolences to his wife Anne and his family at this time.” Sue Attwood, President, ACI UK

Paul was the epitome of an ‘industry veteran’, having enjoyed a long, illustrious and varied career in financial markets. He was, particularly, at the forefront of the modern foreign exchange industry, initially on the ‘sell side’ with roles at Chemical Bank and for a long period, Bank of America, where in the late 80s and early 90s he was a major influence in the development, launch and take up of EBS (Electronic Broking Services).

An active and vociferous member of the original EBS consortium (representing Bank of America’s stakeholder interests) Paul’s commitment and support for the (then) market-changing EBS proposition, and his determination to ‘change dealer behaviour’ to trade on EBS contributed greatly to its early market adoption (and huge success).

Paul went on to create C-View, an FCA-regulated Investment Manager named rather neatly after his holiday home in the Isle of Wight, Sea View, where he enjoyed many happy vacations with his young family - and which he occasionally ‘shared’ with friends. As Chief Investment Officer of C-View, Paul managed a number of successful currency funds, at the same time gaining first-hand insight into the ‘buy side’ experience of trading relationships and more recently, the challenges of implementing mandates and directives like EMIR and MiFID. He channeled this experience into providing consultancy to other market participants and regulators.

A long-standing and active participant of ACI’s Foreign Exchange Committee, in the past few years Paul had stepped up his involvement in ACI activities considerably, first joining the ACI UK Executive Committee to support its local efforts and then, in 2017, becoming ACI’s first full time Director of Education. In this role, he worked tirelessly to promote ACI’s services in support of the new Global Code and to continue ACI’s influence in guiding industry best practice. He was especially engaged with ongoing industry debate around ‘Last Look Last Look Last look is defined as the process where liquidity providers (LP) are rendered the chance to reject trades within a specific period. Generally, this practice by brokers is used to mitigate risk while rendering more favorable terms to the LP. This is due to significant risk that can arise from poorly concocted price quotes that can be used as an advantage by latency arbitragers. Not all last look settings are the same.Last look settings tend to vary by client, trading platform, a client’s connec Last look is defined as the process where liquidity providers (LP) are rendered the chance to reject trades within a specific period. Generally, this practice by brokers is used to mitigate risk while rendering more favorable terms to the LP. This is due to significant risk that can arise from poorly concocted price quotes that can be used as an advantage by latency arbitragers. Not all last look settings are the same.Last look settings tend to vary by client, trading platform, a client’s connec Read this Term’, chairing the ACI Working Group on the subject and bringing a voice of reason to this controversial topic. At a time in his life when he could have taken life much more easily – and with plans in place to enjoy his retirement with his wife Anne now his children were grown - he chose instead to embark on this new ‘career’, travelling extensively to spread the ACI word at industry conferences and events, meeting regulators and industry groups across the globe, and supporting ACI National Associations.

On a personal level, Paul was a committed Christian and devoted family man whose great pride in all of his family’s achievements were evident to everybody who met him. We will all miss him very much; this is a great loss to ACI, to our industry and to so many of us personally.