A bunch of former KCG staffers have found a new home at Wall Street broker Instinet
- William Wiley, a former chief operating officer at trading firm KCG Holdings has joined Instinet as an executive director and head of strategy.
- Wiley follows a number of former KCG staff in making the move to Instinet, which is owned by Japanese investment bank Nomura.
- KCG was acquired by Virtu Financial in 2017, and Virtu immediately set about cutting staff in half. Many of those to leave as part of the cuts were former KCG staff.
Instinet, the brokerage firm owned by Japanese investment bank Nomura, has hired William Wiley as an executive director and head of strategy.
Wiley was previously COO at KCG Holdings, the trading firm acquired by Virtu Financial in 2017. Wiley updated his LinkedIn profile on Thursday to reflect the move. A spokeswoman from Instinet confirmed the hire.
It's the third hire of a former KCG staffer by Instinet in the last six months, as the company looks to replace a number of key executives who left earlier this year.
In addition to Wiley, the firm hired Brian Bulthuis, who joined the firm in December as an executive director. Previously, Bulthuis was head of client execution services quantitative research at Virtu. He held the same position at KCG before the acquisition. He joined Knight Capital, which merged with Getco in 2013 to form KCG, in 2010.
Instinet also hired Denise Fiacco from Virtu Financial, where she was a quant researcher, the company announced on April 18. She worked at KCG before its merger with Virtu.
Both Fiacco and Bulthuis were brought on as part of a broader effort to beef up the firm's quantitative research unit, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.
KCG was acquired by Virtu Financial in 2017, and Virtu immediately set about cutting staff in half. Business Insider previously reported that the firm brought its headcount down from a combined 1,250 between the two firms to 648. Many of those cuts were among senior management from KCG.
Instinet experienced a shakeup after a number of senior staff left the firm earlier this year for Credit Suisse. Those hires included Gerry Milligan and John Comerford.
Milligan, who joined Credit Suisse at the beginning of the year as head of electronic trading, was head of global program trading and product sales at Instinet. Comerford joined Credit Suisse as its head of strategy in quant trading in February. Previously, he was a managing director at Instinet.
Both Milligan and Comerford report to Anthony Abenante, formerly CEO of Instinet, who joined Credit Suisse in 2017, Business Insider first reported.