Khan Takes Interim CEO Role at Algomi

Stu Taylor, the co-founder and CEO of the bond-trading startup, has left the business. Usman Khan, the firm’s CTO and co-founder, has taken over the top spot in an interim capacity, and will lead the firm in the short term along with executive chairman Glen Moore, who joined the company in February 2018.

Algomi runs what is effectively an information network for bond salespeople and traders, identifying likely interest with available inventory, and pairing potential counterparties through its Honeycomb network. It also announced a major custody partnership with BNY Mellon and HSBC in November 2017, which Taylor said represented a new direction for the company.

Spokespeople for Algomi confirmed the move, which was first reported by Business Insider. Algomi’s website already lists Khan as interim CEO, and Taylor’s details have been removed.

“Stu Taylor has left his role as CEO and director of Algomi to pursue new challenges,” says an Algomi spokesperson. “The Algomi board and other shareholders would like to thank Stu for his considerable contribution over the past six years and wish him the very best in his future endeavors. Stu will continue to be a significant shareholder in Algomi.”

Taylor declined to comment when contacted directly by WatersTechnology, and spokespeople would not comment on the circumstances surrounding his departure.

Algomi has gone through a period of significant growth since its formation, and emerged as one of the darlings of the UK’s fintech scene, with Taylor even accompanying government figures on foreign trade missions designed to showcase the UK’s strength in the sector.

The co-founder of Algomi, who previously worked at UBS as the global head of matched principal trading in fixed income, was a perennial feature on lists identifying the top executives in fintech, from publications ranging from Institutional Investor through to Dow Jones’ Financial News.

However, it has also dealt with significant financial issues at times. There had been concerns that Algomi—which posted a $15.5 million loss in 2016, according to accounts filed with Companies House—was in trouble. Auditors stated that there were material questions about whether the company could continue to meet its obligations without a financial injection. 

But in November 2017, Taylor told WatersTechnology that a series of minority investments by firms including AllianceBernstein, S&P Global and angel investors had shored up the company accounts.

“They all look at our financial statements—they don’t make investments without that,” he said. “These aren’t bail-out investments—these are strategic partnerships and growth investments. It does take some vision to see what we’re trying to do, but I think people look at the data, and they look at the insights, and they see that this is going to be one of the transformative technologies for the bond market. It’s not just a trading environment where we can trade in a slightly different way—it’s something fundamentally new, particularly with the custody piece.”