12:17 PM
Fortis Launches 24-Hour Futures Desk
Fortis Clearing Americas will launch its 24-hour futures execution desk on January 14th to service commodity trading advisor (CTA) and hedge fund clients. Gerard Colagrossi and Eli Tullis Jr. have been appointed senior vice presidents and will lead the new Chicago-based desk."The desk will start with a team of about nine people to be staffed around the clock, but within a couple of years we expect growth to bring us to as many as 15 people on the desk," says Bill Floersch, president and CEO of Fortis Clearing Americas.
He adds that the desk will be staff in three shifts to service markets around the world: the U.S. shift will be from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m., the Pacific Rim shift will be from 3 p.m. until 11 p.m. and the European shift will be from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m.
"Fortis Clearing Americas has a desire to expand our reach into the CTA world and generally speaking if you're going to serve the CTAs you need 24-hour execution capability," says Floersch.
The desk will provide custom futures executions leveraging Fortis' proprietary networks that reach futures exchanges around the world. "Our clients will be all over the world and we wanted the benefit of having a single desk in one location so there is one phone number and clients know exactly where they're calling and who is going to be there," adds Floersch.