Newns Named to Run Six Digital Exchange
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: September 13, 2021
David Newns has left State Street, where he was head of Global Link execution services, to join digital assets exchange Six Digital Exchange (SDX), which is preparing for launch.
He will replace Tim Grant, who is standing down as head of SDX after 18 months in the role and leaving to become head of Europe for Galaxy Digital.
SDX says Newns’s mandate will be to take it seamlessly into its next phase of full operations and growth. He joined Currenex in 2006, just prior to the platform being acquired by State Street, and went on to become COO of the bank’s eExchange business, which covered all of its trading platforms, he was appointed global head of Currenex in February 2014, before transitioning to his latest role in late 2017. Newns leaves State Street with Currenex and the bank facing a lawsuit, along with Goldman Sachs and HC Tech, that they signed secret preferential deals to circumvent the FIFO (first-in-first-out) methodology, and will take up the reins at SDX on 6 October 2021, subject to approval from Swiss regulatory authority Finma.
“Once we receive regulatory approval we will need to be ready to ramp up operations, client onboarding and deployment,” says Thomas Zeeb, chairman SDX and member of the executive board at Six. “As with any infrastructure, success will be defined by scale, and our challenge going forward will be to develop the relationships and partnerships – ecosystem, if you will – that will enable us to offer our clients what they are really looking for in challenging times: New services and products for their clients.
“We have received the draft FMI licenses for SIX Digital Exchange AG and SDX Trading AG from the Finma and have responded within the consultation period with no concerns or issues so that we expect the formalisation of the licenses to follow shortly,” he continues. “Tim and his team have defined a roadmap for SDX to both build out the existing ecosystem and expand its franchise further as a fully-regulated operational infrastructure for the digital securities markets of the future.”
SDX says Newns brings with him a track record in the key spaces in which Six operates – mission critical infrastructure, service-driven application development for banks and digital assets, and an understanding of how nascent markets are created and brought to maturity.
“I thoroughly enjoyed working with Tim and his team at SDX and now look forward to working with David as we take SDX into the next stage of maturity and development,” says Zeeb. “David brings with him the background and experience to take us forward and extend the reach of the SDX platform throughout the industry.”
Newns adds, “I believe that this is the perfect moment for our industry to redefine how it engages with its clients and stakeholders and, in turn, empowers them to serve their clients. SDX is in the ideal industry sweet-spot to achieve this and I’m looking forward to driving its further growth and development.”