Money.Net returns, plans launch of new terminal in early 2022

Money.Net, the budget data workstation provider rescued from bankruptcy last year, is preparing to relaunch and unveil its new terminal platform early in Q1 of this year. Company executives hope the new offering will serve and connect a broader range of investors and institutions across the financial markets ecosystem.

The vendor has also assembled a fresh management team that draws heavily on former employees of Gain Capital and its subsidiaries. Leading the company as CEO will be Vincent Sangiovanni, a former senior executive of Gain’s GTX currency trading platform, who joined Money.Net during the summer.

Though reluctant to disclose specific new components prior to relaunch, Sangiovanni says the platform will provide enhanced content and capabilities over its predecessor, aimed both at institutional traders and also at active investors. Part of this will result from a series of undisclosed new partnerships, he says, declining to provide further details at this point. However, he does say that the company’s data suppliers—including long-standing vendors who went unpaid for months under the company’s previous management—have been very supportive and have worked with Money.Net to enhance the data available, add new datasets, and improve data quality.

“We will have multiple tiers of pricing, including an institutional offering, and an offering for self-directed investors, with a much more affordable pricing tier for individuals,” with different sets of content and functionality at each price level, Sangiovanni says. The platform previously retailed at $185 per workstation—less than 10% of the monthly cost of a Bloomberg Professional terminal.

And Sangiovanni says that constant comparison to its much larger rival may have worked against the company in the past.

“I’ve been a user of Money.Net for four or five years now, but it was stuck in that institutional ‘Bloomberg-killer’ mode. We saw the potential of what Money.Net could be and should be,” he says. “As we saw meme stocks, Reddit, Wall Street Bets, and so on, we realized there was no real service available to help people understand that and take control—and we thought Money.Net could provide that.”

No pain, a lot of Gain

The “we” in that statement includes a number of former Gain colleagues. Of course, there’s Sangiovanni, who was previously CEO of 360TGTX, the company created by Deutsche Börse’s 2018 acquisition and integration of Gain’s GTX currency trading electronic communication network into its 360T platform. Prior to that, he was an executive director of GTX.

Jason Emerson has signed on as COO. He had previously spent two years as CFO of Gain between 2013 and 2015, and was most recently COO at Pico Quantitative Trading. Prior to that, he was CFO of wealth management technology provider Dynasty Financial Partners, COO of Convergex, and had spent more than 10 years at Knight Capital as COO of global execution services and VP of financial operations.

Ross Smith will take over as general counsel and chief administrative officer. He most recently was a consultant to FXSpotStream, and has also worked at 350TGTX and GTX Bermuda, as head of legal and general counsel, respectively, as well as serving as senior counsel to Gain Capital. Prior to that, he was senior counsel at Icap North America.

Stephen Orr will take over the role of chief strategy officer. He was most recently a senior vice president at data provider Benzinga, prior to which he was a portfolio manager at Elevate Capital Advisors. He also spent almost five years at Money.Net between 2014 and 2018 as SVP.

Heading technology as CTO will be Jeff Gorsak, who was previously CTO of cybersecurity advisory firm Integrity Data Associates. Prior to that, he was CTO of market data technology vendor Sterling Peak.

Christopher King and Charles Sciametta have been hired as directors of partner sales. Sciametta previously spent almost six years at Gain as a managing director, after holding FX trading and management roles at Peregrine Financial Group, Royal Bank of Canada, and Daiwa Securities. King was most recently FX client relationship manager at Western Union Business Solutions, and previously held senior roles in FX at Danske Markets, FXCM, BNP Paribas, and Dresdner Bank.

And the only member of the management team remaining from Money.Net prior to its bankruptcy is Nancy Joyce, who has spent 22 years at the company as director of operations and VP of operations, and is now head of client success.

Former CEO Morgan Downey and CFO Janet Christofano both left the company following its filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

And Glenn Stevens, who funded Money.Net’s rescue from bankruptcy, will not take an active role on the company’s leadership team, Sangiovanni says. Stevens has spent more than 35 years in the capital markets, including at Bankers Trust, Merrill Lynch and NatWest Markets before joining Gain Capital in 2000, where he currently serves as CEO of its retail division.

“Glenn helped us in getting the money and organizing the business, but he isn’t involved, and doesn’t own the assets,” Sangiovanni says. “We took over the assets of Money.Net on June 4, and the company is currently owned by management, employees, and friends and family.”

Emerson says the new owners have raised enough funding to run and grow the business, but are considering whether to approach outside investors to grow it faster. “Currently, we have sufficient funding to grow the business organically. But there has been a lot of interest since the transaction from people who are very interested in Money.Net as a business,” he says. “So, do we accelerate that growth with a strategic investment? We’re evaluating strategies.”