Alexander Culley

Alexander Culley

Alexander Culley

Chief Executive and Founder

Alex has circa 16 years’ experience in the financial services industry, having worked in a range of institutions (broker/dealers, fund managers, precious metals dealers, payment services providers, consulting firms and a share registrar) in senior positions. In particular:

Alex has substantial experience of the commodity markets:

  • Serving in the compliance departments of three Category 1 Ring Dealers of the London Metal Exchange (“LME”)
  • Leading the compliance operations at two of the world’s leading brokers in soft, agricultural and paper/pulp markets, active on ICE Futures US and EU, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Euronext, Eurex and Norexco
  • Developing the compliance infrastructure of dealers in precious metals (physical and paper) based in London, Frankfurt and the DMCC, to meet the expectations of the London Bullion Market Association (“LBMA”), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) and EU Conflict Minerals Regulation
  • Working with traders and brokers in the energy markets, with a particular focus on trading in oil and related products

Alex has in depth knowledge of the foreign exchange markets:

  • Assisting wholesale liquidity providers meet the expectations of the FX Global Code
  • Playing a leadership role in response to significant market wide events such as following the EUR-CHF de-pegging
  • Supporting the assessment of prospective FX products against Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation ("MiFIR") and European Markets Infrastructure Regulation ("EMIR") regulatory reporting requirements
  • Helping front desks to deliver role specific conduct training based on FX market scenarios
  • Developing a Brexit contingency plan for a payment services provider

Alex has a good understanding of the securities markets:

  • Assessing transaction types to determine potential obligations under the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (“SFTR”) and Approved Publication Arrangement (“APA”) requirements in the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ("MiFID II") / MiFIR package
  • Establishing processes for the conduct of best execution monitoring by buy side hedge funds on their sell side brokers
  • Selecting vendors for the purpose of performing monitoring for potential market abuse on the equities markets
  • Creating a framework for fixed income brokers to share trade ideas in compliance with the requirements of the Market Abuse Regulation (“MAR”)

Alex has held controlled/senior manager functions (or their foreign equivalents) at firms active in the UK, Dubai International Financial Centre and in the Republic of Ireland. He has also served as a non-executive director on the board of a Type 2 and 3 Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) licensee in Hong Kong as well as a principal of an introducing broker that is a member of National Futures Association (“NFA”) in the United States of America. Alex has practical experience of trading operations in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Alex is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the Southampton Business School, University of Southampton.
In his (little) spare time, Alex is a long suffering supporter of Southampton FC and takes a keen interest in current affairs, history and travelling (when it is allowed!).

We don’t just do theory, we’ve practised.

We offer front line regulatory experience to our clients, from pit to boardroom…

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