Itarle to Open New York Office, Co-Locate at CME

Itarle is hiring staff for a new office in New York. As part of this US expansion, the company is also co-locating within CME Group’s datacenter in Aurora, Illinois, to beef up its global datacenter presence. 

The Lucerne, Switzerland-based company offers multi-asset algorithmic trading services, smart-order routing and transaction cost analysis (TCA) to the sell side. CEO Paul Lynch recently visited New York to hire staff to support these endeavors. He tells WatersTechnology that the company has seen increased demand from US investment banks wanting to provide TCA to their buy-side customers.

Itarle expects to open the New York office in the second quarter. 

Regulation as Driver

The revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II) in Europe expanded the best-ex mandate from equities into other asset classes. Itarle, which was founded in 2005, has seen opportunity in the US as the effects of the regulation ripple out to geographies that are not covered by the Mifid II, Lynch says.

In the US, “many banks and brokers are already feeling the MiFID II impact. While increased regulatory scrutiny of client execution quality is driving demand for best execution services worldwide, so are banks’ desires for improved return on capital for their trading desks,” the company said in a press release.

Lynch says Itarle’s expansion is built around the trend that the major investment banks are increasingly willing to outsource best-ex services in order to take that build and upkeep off their plates. 

Itarle is looking to hire a regional manager for its New York office, as well as a full complement of sales and support staff.