Trading Technology 30: Chip Carver

Chip Carver
No. 9
Chief Operating Officer
Markit Group

Chip Carver

Chip Carver

While Markit Group in the early 2000s was making a name for itself in credit-default-swap valuations, Chip Carver came out of Goldman Sachs Group, where he was head of e-commerce for global interest rate products, to run the London-based SwapsWire platform. An over-the-counter deal that “took minutes to complete on the phone could take weeks to be confirmed,” recalls Carver, who became CEO of SwapsWire in 2002 after two years on the company’s board. SwapsWire introduced “a very fast and resilient” communications solution, and London- and New York–based Markit bought it in 2008, adding the company to its transaction-processing and information services businesses. After the integration of SwapsWire and its absorption into MarkitSERV, a joint venture with Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., Markit CEO Lance Uggla named Carver COO to consolidate oversight of technology development, infrastructure and product services. This structure facilitates “moving technology from product to product” and flexibility in responding to marketplace and regulatory changes, says Carver, 52. Technology strategy and prioritization are “a constant conversation” among senior executives and business-unit CTOs. “Every product has a big technology component,” he says. “When we think about ROI, the big question is, what is it going to be for the customer?”

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