The company’s entire derivatives business derives value from trading and clearing in the Montreal Exchange.Mark Blinch/Reuters
TMX Group Ltd. has hired a veteran salesman to bolster its derivatives business.
Luc Fortin joins the Montreal Exchange as managing director of derivatives trading. He will oversee the daily operation of Canada's derivatives markets, which facilitate the trading of interest-rate, index and equity contracts, and shepherd new products to help attract more trading activity.
He starts on June 27.
Mr. Fortin brings more than 25 years of experience in capital markets to the MX. Most recently, he managed HSBC Bank Canada's institutional client-facing businesses in rates and credit, derivatives, foreign exchange and money markets across Canada. In his new role, Mr. Fortin will be based in Montreal and report to Alain Miquelon, chief executive of the MX. He is replacing Claude Cyr, who joined another arm of TMX Group, the Natural Gas Exchange Inc. in Calgary, last August.
Growing the derivatives segment is one of the five pillars of TMX Group's new corporate-growth strategy, which was first unveiled last June.
The company's entire derivatives business derives value from trading and clearing in the MX, and trading and market data from its stake in U.S. equity options market BOX Market LLC. In 2015, the division generated $104.5-million in revenue, or 15 per cent of the company's total sales, down from $105.8-million in 2014.
On the MX specifically, trading volume jumped to 76.7 million contracts in 2015, from 70 million a year earlier. However, this increase was softened by a lower average fee.
In 2015, just three futures contracts accounted for more than half of the Montreal Exchange's volume: Three-Month Canadian Bankers' Acceptance Futures (BAX), Ten-Year Government of Canada Bond Futures (CGB) and the S&P/TSX 60 Index Standard Futures (SXF). The balance is largely represented by the equity and ETF options market.