London-based R.J. O’Brien Limited (RJO Limited) today announced the appointment of Simon Prangnell to head the firm’s new affiliate R.J. O’Brien France S.A.S. Prangnell, who has extensive experience in listed derivatives, institutional brokerage and leadership at major financial institutions, joined the firm this month as Managing Director, France.
R.J. O’Brien Limited is a sister company to R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO), the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the United States.
French regulators have granted the new affiliate preliminary approval, and institutional brokers – including Prangnell – will begin executing orders as soon as the firm receives final clearance. Also just joining R.J. O’Brien France this month as an institutional broker and Senior Vice President is Martin Marchant, who has worked closely with Prangnell since 2002. Jérôme Jourquin joined the affiliate in March as Senior Vice President and its first institutional broker.
The new office was announced in March as an initiative that will give R.J. O’Brien its first foothold in mainland Europe and further its strategic global growth initiative, aimed at building on the company’s core offerings.
RJO Chairman and CEO Gerald Corcoran said: “Simon is ideally suited for this role, enabling us to build our new European office with a great team that will only grow from here. He is that rare leader who can effectively manage a significant operation while also taking on a brokerage role and servicing clients directly. We’re excited about the potential of this new offering out of France as a great addition to our established UK operation and look forward to providing the high level of service that RJO clients across the world enjoy.”
Prangnell has spent the past 23 years of his 34-year career running large derivatives operations out of Paris.
Prangnell said: “RJO’s expertise in, and emphasis on futures was a big draw for me in accepting this position. This has been my core focus for my entire career, and I believe we have the opportunity to build an incredible team and offering here. We will leverage not only on RJO’s leadership in agricultural commodities – which is a valuable asset to the large agricultural industry here – but the full breadth of financial futures and options products we offer. RJO has made significant investments in the latest technology, which will allow us to offer efficient and comprehensive coverage to the sizable asset management community here.”
Prangnell most recently served since 2015 as Managing Partner, Coex Partners Limited, an independent agency broker acquired in 2017 by TP ICAP. He opened the Paris branch of Coex, with oversight of the sales, compliance and operational risk functions and the growth of the team. From 2011 to 2014, Prangnell was Managing Director, Head of Continental Europe and the Middle East for Newedge, overseeing all aspects of the EMEA business and a team of more than 50 execution brokers in Paris alone.
For Man Financial Paris, which became MF Global Paris, he joined as Head of a trading desk in 2002, ultimately taking on responsibility from 2007 to 2011 for the financial futures and options operation, including recruitment and development of all brokers. Previously he held institutional brokerage and leadership roles in Paris at Cantor Fitzgerald and Refco.
Prangnell began his career as a floor trader on the London International Financial Futures Exchange (Liffe). From 1992 to 1996 he was Co-head Financial Futures and Options for HSBC James Capel in London, running the fixed income listed execution desk and the Asian equity derivatives team.
Marchant has been a broker for most of his career, beginning in equities and later in futures and options since 1994. Jourquin has more than two decades of experience in agricultural commodities brokerage, most recently as Head of the Commodity & Clearing Desk for GFI Securities Limited.
RJO and its affiliates have been steadily building on the firm’s presence globally, with offices in Chicago, New York, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Seoul, in addition to Paris. The firm has also indicated an intention to open an office in Singapore.
