RBS hires global FX options head from Santander

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has appointed Simon Manwaring as global head of foreign exchange options.

Based in London, Manwaring began his role on December 16 and reports to James Pearson, head of currencies and local markets trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and global head of cash and non-deliverable forwards.

Manwaring joins from Santander, where he had been head of FX options since mid-2011. Prior to that, he worked at HSBC for more than three years as global head of FX options trading, and before that was at Bank of America between 2005 and 2008. He began his career at JP Morgan in 1994, working at the US bank for 11 years.

Pearson, who first joined RBS from Nomura in 2011 as head of spot trading, became global head of FX trading in December 2012. He started his latest role in June last year, and continues to report to Tim Carrington, global co-head of currencies and emerging markets in London.

Manwaring takes over the options role at RBS previously held by Mark Barnes, who had been global head of macro client trading and global head of FX options. Barnes left RBS last year during a management reshuffle that saw Carrington and Fabian Shey become global co-heads of currencies and emerging markets.

RBS declined to comment on Manwaring's appointment.