| 8 |
| Chris Isaacson |
| Chief Operating Officer |
| BATS Global Markets |
| Last year: 17 |
If not for the November megamerger of NYSE Euronext with IntercontinentalExchange, the one between BATS Global Markets and Direct Edge Holdings, agreed upon in August and due to be completed this quarter for an undisclosed price, would be causing the biggest buzz in the exchange world. With a market share above 20 percent, the two companies’ combined U.S. stock markets will be bigger than that of Nasdaq OMX Group. Considering too that BATS Chi-X Europe is the top pan-European marketplace, with a 23 percent share as of November, and that Direct Edge has established a toehold in Brazil, BATS is in a real sense taking on the world, leveraging technology that has evolved from the Lenexa, Kansas–based company’s origins as an electronic communications network in 2006. The deal with Direct Edge “provides a greater foundation for us to see more new growth opportunities in the markets we’re in and markets we’re not yet in,” says Chris Isaacson, 35, a member of BATS’s founding team of computer experts and COO since 2007. In November, BATS Chi-X Europe, having obtained recognized investment exchange status from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, launched its listings business with BlackRock and Lyxor exchange-traded funds, as well as the BXTR trade reporting service, the last leading the pan-European market with a 40 percent share. Says Isaacson, “As part of our culture, we continue to focus on enhancing market quality and always ask, ‘How can we make the markets better?’ ”
See also Isaacson’s profiles in the 2013 Trading Technology 40 and the 2012 Trading Technology 30.
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< 7. Chip Carver | The 2014 Trading Tech 40 | 9. Bradley Peterson> |
