Benedict Sears

Equiti Taps Benedict Sears as Institutional Liquidity Manager

7 Oct 2019

Equiti Capital, formerly known as Divisa Capital, today announced the appointment of Benedict Sears to take on the role of its institutional liquidity manager.

In his new role, Sears will play an important role in the wider team and will take part in planning and delivering Equiti’s strategy for its liquidity management business across different regions. The company’s global footprint includes local offices in the Middle East, North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific.

Prior to Equiti, Benedict, who has a colorful career across different industries, worked as an ‘FX Junior’ at Makor, which provides advice and execution to institutional investors in equity, fixed income, FX, and specialized trading strategies. He served there for two and a half years, starting from January 2017 until he left for Equiti this month.

Benedict stepping into this position comes nearly one year after Equiti Group’s institutional prime brokerage arm has rebranded to Equiti Capital UK.

Sears’ career encompasses another stop within the FX space which was a short stint at UK market maker XTX Markets, where he worked as an intern in the sales department for three months.

Equiti expands Middle East footprint

Earlier in August, Equiti Group signed an agreement with Saudi lender Riyad Bank to provide FX liquidity to the bank using the Equiti platform. The group’s UK based entity will also provide its trading infrastructure and a 24-hour FX service to the bank.

According to its filings, Equiti Capital UK has managed to almost quadruple its revenues in 2018 from a year ago, coming in at £17.95 million. This figure reflected an increase of 285 percent from the company’s 2017 fiscal year, which achieved a turnover of £4.67 million.

Announcing the latest appointment, Hormoz Faryar, Global Head of Institutional Sales, said: “We are committed to bolstering the institutional department in the UK office. Benedict Sears brings fresh industry expertise in liquidity management and FX business development. The appointment reflects our commitment to the institutional business in general and the City of London in particular.”

Iskandar Najjar, CEO of Equiti Group, added: “Equiti Group’s global growth strategy has been well executed and our new hires are strongly aligned with various business needs to further our future plans.”

Source: Finance Magnates