BCS Prime Brokerage (BCS), an independent Russian financial institution, has launched an international brokerage business after being granted UK regulatory authorisation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to deal and advise on investments and hold client assets.
BCS Financial Group (BCS FG) has nearly 20 years’ of experience in banking and brokerage, and occupies a leading position in the Russian financial markets across equity, futures and options, fixed income, repo and currency trading. BCS FG ranks first in terms of equity and derivatives and second for FX volumes traded on the Moscow Exchange. It is now building out its institutional coverage across Europe.
Operating under the trading name BCS Financial Group, BCS has been in London since 2012. BCS has made a wave of key hires to support this core business launch. Executive directors include Rizwan Kayani and Joseph Dayan, formerly of Renaissance Capital and Unicredit respectively. They are supported by non-executive director John Barker, the former CEO of Liquidnet Europe, and chief regulatory officer Wendy Langridge. The management team also includes Tim Bevan and Luis Saenz, formerly of Otkritie Capital. The London business will continue to increase its headcount and market share over the next 12 to 18 months.
BCS in London will operate as a wholly independent secondary market participant.
Joseph Dayan, executive director and head of markets, says: “BCS is committed to building a robust and transparent European business which can provide clients with both cost effective and efficient execution, as well as insightful and quantitative research. All members of the team have been hand-picked to maximise our skill set and we are confident that we can deliver a premium service to our global clients.”
Roman Lokhov, chief executive of global markets and investment banking at BCS Financial Group, says: “We are delighted to have reached this important milestone in our global business development. In launching our European operation, BCS Financial Group is able to expand its product offering and is well positioned to take advantage of the increased transparency and structural changes occurring in the Russian market, for the benefit of its institutional investors.”
