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The 2016 Trading Technology 40: Dan Keegan

No. 7 Dan Keegan, Head of Equities, Americas, Citi

March 07, 2016

< The 2016 Trading Technology 40

Dan Keegan

Head of Equities, Americas

Citi

Last year: 9

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