The appointment of Joe Mecane, formerly executive vice president and head of U.S. equities at NYSE, along with the hiring in July of Christine Sandler, a senior sales executive from a NYSE affiliate, reaffirms Barclays' commitment to its electronic trading platform, several analysts said.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in June said Barclays misled clients by not protecting them from "predatory" high-frequency traders in its "dark pool," a trading venue known as LX, despite the bank's assurances it was doing so.

Trading volume in Barclays' dark pool slumped after the lawsuit, with LX falling about 10 rungs in alternative trading system rankings, but now appears to have stabilized, according to data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Mecane will help Barclays develop its electronic product offerings, with a focus on equities and credit markets, the bank said in a statement. Sandler was hired as a managing director and head of equities client origination in the Americas.

"To me it makes sense. Having new personnel with blue chip reputations come in to say 'We're not part of the old guard and wouldn't have come here if it wasn't clean' adds credibility," said Joe Gawronski, president and chief operating officer of Rosenblatt Securities.  

Mecane and Sandler will help Barclays re-establish its ties with both investors and other brokers as it offers services such as research and access to initial public offerings, he said.

"You can't boycott Barclays forever if you're on the buy-side. You can avoid the dark pool and use other banks' algos for a time," Gawronski said, but "if they aggressively push folks back to the electronic product, the flow should start to migrate back over time."

(Reporting by Herbert Lash; editing by Andrew Hay)

By Herbert Lash

Valeurs citées dans l'article : Barclays PLC, BLUE, FLOW, AMERICAS, THE BANK