Ralf Lang is joining Mako Group as Director of US Operations, based in New York, with immediate effect. He will be responsible for managing Mako Group ‘s North American expansion both as a market-making firm and a flow provider for single stock, equity index and interest rate options.
Lang joins Mako Group from Deutsche Borse (DBAG) and Eurex, where he oversaw the roll-out of the a/c/e (Alliance/CBOT/Eurex) platform in 2001. He also ran the DBAG representative office in the US and all Eurex marketing operations in North America. Prior to this, he was part of the management team within Deutsche Borse’s Information Product Division.
Mako Group is a market maker, providing liquidity and prices on exchange traded options. It is active (either through direct memberships or indirectly) in 15 North American, 12 European and three Asian exchanges. Altogether, Mako Group traded well over 80 million contracts globally in 2002.
Commenting on Lang’s appointment, David Segel, CEO at Mako Group, said, “Ralf’s recruitment is a clear statement of our intent to expand in North America. We already offer liquidity aggressively in North American stock, index and fixed income products and have increased our share of the market rapidly. This track record is based on the combination of trading expertise, proven market models and state-of-the art proprietary IT systems, which has positioned us as leading liquidity providers in European markets. Moreover, having already experienced the transfer of our business from open-outcry to electronic trading in Europe, we are confident that as other exchanges are going through the same process we will be well placed both to expand our business and deliver the benefits of that experience across American markets.”
Mako Global Derivatives LLC opened for business in the US in 1999 with an office in Chicago and set up its Headquarters in New York, early 2000 with the aim to grow and develop the North American trading operation. Today Mako Global Derivatives LLC holds memberships and is an active market maker on five US options exchanges trading equities, indices, bonds and market making products.
Commenting on his appointment, Ralf Lang said, “I am delighted to join Mako at an exciting time in its development. Mako’s experience in electronic trading, the transition from open-outcry and its extensive trading and market making records makes it a strong provider of liquidity and supplier of price expertise. I very much look forward to working with Mako, both in New York and around the world, in developing the Mako business”.