CME Group, the derivatives marketplace, announced the appointment of two new global heads for its Equity Index and Cryptocurrency businesses “to continue driving product innovation and supporting long-term growth.”
Paul Woolman, Global Head of Equity Index Products, will oversee the company’s Equity Index product portfolio, while Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products, will “assume responsibility for the company’s Cryptocurrency products.”
Woolman and Vicioso will “report to Tim McCourt, who previously led both business lines and was recently named to the CME Group management team as Global Head of Equity and FX Products.”
McCourt said:
“Our equity and cryptocurrency businesses have experienced tremendous growth in recent years, underpinned by strong customer adoption and continued innovation. In their expanded roles, Paul and Gio will continue to meet the needs of our clients by providing products and services to manage risk in today’s ever-changing marketplace.”
Woolman has “worked in equity derivatives for more than 20 years.”
He joined CME Group in 2016 “as Senior Director, Head of EMEA Equity Products and Alternative Investments.” Prior to CME Group, Woolman served “as a Delta One Equity Derivatives Trading Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for 11 years, where he managed exposure across futures, ETFs, swaps, and structured products, as well as cash equities and FX.”
He holds “a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Bristol and an MBA from London Business School.”
Vicioso, with nearly 30 years of financial markets experience, “joined CME Group in 2012 as Senior Director of Equity Products, in which he also began his involvement in CME Group’s Cryptocurrency business.”
Prior to CME Group, he “served as Vice President for RBC Capital Markets’ Equity Derivatives Group on their OTC Equity Derivatives desk. Prior to RBC, he worked at Deutsche Bank in the Global Equity Derivatives Division.”
Vicioso holds “a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rutgers University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.”
This new reorganization “comes amid a strong surge in growth from CME Group’s Equity Index and Cryptocurrency business lines.”
Equity Index trading highlights include:
- Q3 futures and options average daily volume (ADV) of 7.4 million contracts increased by more than 46% against Q3 2021.
- September futures and options record ADV of 9.4 million contracts increased over 47% against September 2021.
- Nearly 17.5 million Tuesday and Thursday E-mini S&P 500 options contracts have traded since launch in March, becoming the most successful options launch in CME Group history.
Cryptocurrency trading highlights include:
- Q3 futures and options ADV of 46.2K contracts increased over 45% YoY against Q3 2021.
- September futures and options ADV of 59.6K contracts increased more than 72% against September 2021.
- Bitcoin futures ADV of 11.7K contracts increased more than 66% versus Q3 2021.
- Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures launched on August 29, and Ether options launched on September 12.
As the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group “enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities.”
CME Group exchanges “offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals.”
The company “offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.” In addition, it operates “one of the world’s leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.”