CTA, UTP Tap Exchange Vet Books as Chair

Exchange technology veteran Bob Books has been appointed chair of the operating committees governing the Consolidated Tape Association (CTA) and Unlisted Trading Privileges’ (UTP) Plan Administration, replacing Emily Kasparov, who has stepped down after four years in the role.

Books is currently an executive in the market structure and functionality group at Cboe Global Markets, which he joined via its purchase of Bats, having served as director of strategy at Direct Edge, which Bats acquired in 2014. Before that, he was an associate managing director at the International Securities Exchange, joining Direct Edge when ISE took a stake in the exchange. Previously in his career, he held various roles at data vendor Bridge Information Systems, including product manager for Bridge’s Institutional Order Entry (IOE) system, having begun his career working on trading floor automation projects at the American Stock Exchange.

At Cboe, Books focuses on product design and strategy for the exchange’s four US equity markets, and chairs the NMS Limit Up – Limit Down Operating Committee. In addition, over the past eight years, Books has been a participant in the SIP Operating Committees, and has led several working groups and subcommittees.

In a statement, Books says he will continue working on Kasparov’s initiatives to streamline processes and implement new initiatives, and to increase transparency.

“The SIPs have made meaningful performance improvements, and I view my new role as an opportunity to continue that work. In the last few years, the SIPs have dramatically reduced latency for the CTA and UTP quote and trade feeds. We continue to work on reducing those numbers further, as we also focus on keeping uptime at 100 percent,” he says.