< The 2016 Trading Technology 40

Four years ago veteran electronic trading executive Dan Keegan, then Citi’s global head of cash equities, predicted that 80 percent of institutional volume would eventually be concentrated among five sell-side firms. Now three years into the job of head of equities, Americas, Keegan, 47, continues the consolidation refrain while aiming to ensure that Citi is a survivor. “The competitive landscape is changing radically” as the top banks deal with new capital requirements and regulatory pressures, he notes. Certainly, New York–based Citi has not been spared capital and cost constraints during what Keegan terms “seven years of right-sizing,” but now “the opportunity is there to build out our business.” Next-generation technology has to be part of it because “the world is governed by best execution,” says Keegan, who joined Citi in 2007 when it acquired Automated Trading Desk, where he was head of institutional equities. Earlier he had built JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s electronic execution services business. Keegan is touting Optimus 2.0, now being rolled out after a “soft launch” last year, as “one of the most important advancements in the execution space.” Rather than trying to muscle ahead in the algorithmic arms race, Citi is positioning Optimus as a tool for clients to assess and choose from an often confusing array of strategy and routing options. Instead of “pushing product,” Keegan says, Citi is offering clients “a road map, the optimal path to achieving their stated objectives.” He expects to build on the firm’s first-mover advantage with versions 3.0 and beyond. Keegan has positioned himself as an honest broker in the industry-regulator dialogue on market structure. He is a director of BATS Global Markets (see Chris Isaacson, No. 3), which recently withdrew its initial support of the controversial exchange application of IEX Group (see Rob Park, No. 16).

 
2016 Trading Technology 40

1. Raymond Tierney III Bloomberg 2. Richard Prager BlackRock Building Resilient Portfolios: Infrastructure’s Strategic Advantage Sponsored by IFM Investors May 9, 2025 3. Chris Isaacson BATS Global Markets 4. Jonathan Ross KCG Holdings 5. Bradley Peterson Nasdaq

6. Brad Levy Markit 7. Dan Keegan Citi 8. Ronald DePoalo Fidelity Institutional 9. Raj Mahajan Goldman Sachs Group 10. Ari Studnitzer CME Group

11. Mayur Kapani Intercontinental Exchange 12. Gerald O’Connell CBOE Holdings 13. Nicholas Themelis MarketAxess Holdings 14. Gil Mandelzis EBS BrokerTec (ICAP) 15. Bill Chow and Richard Leung Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

16. Rob Park IEX Group 17. Philip Weisberg Thomson Reuters 18. John Mackay (Mack) Gill MillenniumIT 19. Robert Cornish International Securities Exchange 20. Paul Hamill Citadel Securities

21. Eric Noll Convergex 22. Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky Broadway Technology 23. Rishi Nangalia REDI Holdings 24. Veronica Augustsson Cinnober Financial Technology 25. Alasdair Haynes Aquis Exchange

26. Manoj Narang Mana Partners 27. Gaurav Suri Arcesium 28. Robert Sloan S3 Partners 29. Anton Katz and Stephen Mock AQR Capital Mgmt 30. Stu Taylor Algomi

31. D. Keith Ross Jr. PDQ Enterprises 32. Donal Byrne Corvil 33. Alfred Eskandar Portware 34. R. Cromwell Coulson OTC Markets Group 35. Masayuki Hosaka Rakuten

36. Peter Maragos and David Karat Dash Financial 37. Amar Kuchinad Electronifie 38. Jennifer Nayar SR Labs 39. Dave Snowdon Metamako 40. Dan Raju Tradier