Data Explorers, the specialist company that provides the global securities financing industry with analysis, monitoring and decision support tools, has appointed Donal Smith as CEO.
Smith becomes responsible for the day-to-day management of the company, with the primary aim of expanding the business internationally and developing the product range available to existing and new customers. The companys founder, Mark Faulkner, will assume the role of head of Innovation, and Chairman Bill Cuthbert will continue the development of strategic client relationships.
The securities lending market accesses over $22 trillion of global inventory of which approximately $5 trillion were on loan during 2007. The market is growing at more than 10% a year, driven by a number of factors, including the development of 130/30 strategies and funds, and the impact of the credit crunch upon equity and fixed income markets.
“I am excited to be joining Data Explorers at a crucial stage in its development. The company has established a market leading position by working in partnership with clients to deliver unrivalled insight into securities lending performance. I look forward to working with Mark and the highly successful Data Explorers team to grow the business further,” says Smith.
“Were delighted to welcome Donal to Data Explorers. Throughout his time at Thomson Financial and the Financial Times, he had an enviable track record of delivering profitable innovation and growing businesses internationally. Our business is growing at over 50% a year on a number of key metrics, and we are confident that Donal is the right person to take our company to the next level by expanding into new territories and broadening our product offering as our clients needs evolves,” adds Faulkner.
Prior to joining Data Explorers, Smith was president and COO, EMEA and Asia of Thomson Financial. He joined that company at the end of 2001 and was responsible for driving the growth of Thomson Financials international businesses, which delivered its best year of double-digit growth last year. He was also instrumental in working with the European Commission to gain regulatory clearance for Thomsons proposed acquisition of Reuters.
Previously, he worked for the Financial Times Group, firstly as managing director of Business Information at FT Information and then as director of Electronic Publishing for the FT Group, and as a member of the group’s management board. During this period he was responsible for the launch of FT.com, a global financial resource which quickly became the number one business website in Europe.