Martin Halblaub, the head of an ambitious Swiss digital exchange, SDX, is stepping down. The CEO has cited strategic differences and personal reasons for his departure.
Halblaub runs a consulting firm called Successful Boards and was only in place for the first phase of SDX. His swift departure is nevertheless a surprise as he and parent SIX differed on how to set up SDX’s strategy, according to the memo. The key decisive difference is that Halblaub wanted SDX to be originated as an independent company which is a plan that rubbed with SIX’s board who wanted the new exchange to operate under the overall SIX umbrella.
On the decision, he commented:
“I fully support SDX’s ambition and business model and would have loved to lead SDX into the future. However, I have decided with a heavy heart — given our differing ideas on strategy, combined with the stretch the role is for my life model — that I cannot engage in a long term commitment as Head of SDX.”
SIX CEO Jos Dijsselhof says:
“Martin [Halblaub] led SDX through its initial phase with great success. He helped shape SDX’s ambition, strategy, and business model and has built a strong management team around him. We thank him for his support during this phase.”
He will be replaced as SDX CEO on September 1 by Tomas Kindler on an interim basis. His tenure has proved short-lived having only been appointed to the top position at the start of this year. Kindler was the head of Strategic Payments Initiatives of SIX Securities Services and is a senior industry expert with almost 20 years experience in the securities industry.
He was responsible for establishing and building on relationships with clients and trading venues as well as for business development and under his leadership, the business grew dramatically through a particular emphasis on interoperability.
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