SmartPool Trading Limited Names Paul Squires To Its Board Of Directors

SmartPool, the European dark liquidity pool created by NYSE Euronext in partnership with HSBC, J.P.Morgan and BNP Paribas, today announced that Paul Squires, Head of Trading at AXA Investment Managers, has been appointed an independent member of its Board of Directors, effective May 2010, subject to regulatory approval.

Mr. Squires is currently Head of Trading and Deputy Head of Trading and Securities Financing at AXA Investment Managers, a global buy?side firm with operations in 22 countries. Mr. Squires has held this position since 2006 after having been appointed Head of the Central Dealing Unit at AXA Investment Managers in 2004. Mr. Squires started his professional career as an equity trader for Mercury Asset Management (now BlackRock) in 1993 before becoming a UK equity trader for Sun Life Investment Management in 1996. He has a degree in Business Economics from Reading University.

“We are delighted to welcome Paul to the SmartPool Board, “said Lee Hodgkinson, CEO SmartPool. “As an experienced head trader across Paris and London, Paul brings a unique insight into the needs of the European buy?side community together with a wealth of operational and technical markets expertise. We look forward to working with Paul as we extend our reach into continental Europe and build the SmartPool value proposition.”

Paul Squires added, “I am greatly looking forward to working with the SmartPool Board and Executive. I remain a strong advocate of both dark pools which provide meaningful liquidity to institutional traders and the primary exchanges that have a stabilising role. With a strong focus on European equities, I see Smartpool as a key component of this evolving trading landscape going forward.”