CME Group Names New Global Heads for Equity Index and Cryptocurrency Businesses

CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, has appointed Paul Woolman as Global Head of Equity Index Products and Giovanni Vicioso as Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products.

In their new roles, Woolman will oversee the company's Equity Index product portfolio, while Vicioso will assume responsibility for the company's Cryptocurrency products. Both of them will report to Tim McCourt, who previously led both business lines and was recently named to the CME Group management team as Global Head of Equity and FX Products.

McCourt commented: "Our equity and cryptocurrency businesses have experienced tremendous growth in recent years, underpinned by strong customer adoption and continued innovation. In their expanded roles, Paul and Gio will continue to meet the needs of our clients by providing products and services to manage risk in today's ever-changing marketplace."

Woolman joined CME Group in 2016 as Senior Director, Head of EMEA Equity Products and Alternative Investments for EMEA, having more than 20 years work experience in equity derivatives. He previously had served as Director Equity Derivative Trader (Delta One) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for over 11 years. Woolman gained his Bachelor's Degree of Geography from the University of Bristol in 1998 and earned his MBA degree in Finance from London Business School in 2005.

Vicioso,with about 30 years experience in finance, joined CME Group in 2012 as Senior Director of Equity Products. Prior to that, he had held role of Head of Operations, Futures Group at Marco Polo Network, a financial services group focused on the trading and investment opportunities arising between emerging markets and G7 economies, for more than 4 year. Vicioso had also been served as Vice President at RBC Capital Markets from 1998 to 2006. prior to RBC, he worked at Deutsche Bank in the Global Equity Derivatives Division. Vicioso holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Rutgers University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

These new appointments come amid a strong surge in growth from CME Group's Equity Index and Cryptocurrency business lines. As Fazzaco reported today, the group has announced three new real-time indices and reference rates for cryptocurrencies will be released jointly with CF Benchmarks, a UK FCA-regulated benchmark administrator, on October 31​.