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The 2016 Trading Technology 40: Dan Keegan
No. 7 Dan Keegan, Head of Equities, Americas, Citi


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).
![]() 2. Richard Prager BlackRock ![]() 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 |