ITG appoints sales trading director

ITG has appointed Neil McCann as director of sales trading in Hong Kong.

This new position was created to oversee the expansion of regional sales trading teams, following recent hires of sales traders. ITG declined to specify the number of such hires.

McCann will report to Gabe Butler, head of equities in Hong Kong. He will be responsible for providing high-touch sales trading for ITG's institutional clients, and driving the growth of the firm's trading desk in Hong Kong.

McCann brings with him over 15 years of Asian trading experience. He was a senior sales trader at Instinet, and previously held senior roles at HSBC and Morgan Stanley. Instinet has not hired a replacement for McCann's role as yet.

ITG has also hired senior sales traders in other regions, including
John Carillo as head of portfolio in New York, Robert Blythe-Currie in London, Eric Wolfe in Tokyo, and James Levy in Sydney.

A spokeswoman for ITG notes that it is part of ITG's global strategy to combine high-touch sales trading with the advanced trading tools through expanding the trading desk.

In May this year, Leon Christiankis was appointed ITG's first Asia Pacific CEO to shape and execute this expansion strategy across the region.

Given the market volatility, widening spreads, and high trading costs exacerbated by the financial crisis, ITG believes McCann and the expanded sales trading team will provide additional coverage and strong trading performance for its institutional clients as they search for liquidity across the Asian markets.