More changes at the top for London Capital Group as CEO resigns

Problems continue to mount for troubled spread betting and CFD provider London Capital Group (LCG) after the company was forced to appoint its third CEO in the past 6 months following the resignation of Mark Slade.

Slade only took over as CEO of the company in February of this year following the departure of Simon Denham.

He resigned for personal reasons, although he will remain as a strategic adviser to the company for the remainder of the year to ensure a smooth transition period. He also continues to be a shareholder in the company.

LCG has confirmed the appointment of Kevin Ashby as the company’s new CEO with immediate effect.

Ashby recently joined LCG in May as chief commercial officer and has previously served as chairman and CEO of Saxo Capital Markets and responsible for Saxo Bank's operations in Asia Pacific.
 
LCG said that he is a highly experienced executive who has extensive knowledge of the retail derivatives industry and has held a number of senior roles in the past including CEO of Patsystems, a UK listed financial software company; chairman of Velsys, a trading systems supplier; and CEO of WISe, the insurance e-commerce network.

LCG chairman Giles Vardey said: “The Board is sorry that Mark has made this personal choice but we all respect the reason for his decision. All members of the board wish him well and we are pleased that we have been able to promote Kevin Ashby to CEO.

“Kevin has a great deal of experience in our sector and has been a CEO in the past. His strategic vision and skills will continue to drive the improvements we are already making in the business.”

LCG has further strengthened the company's management team with the appointment of John Jones as chief operating officer and head of risk management.   

Jones was previously European COO and head of risk at Liquid Capital, a specialist derivative trading firm and prior to that he held senior trading roles at both Bear Stearns and Citigroup.

The company said that Jones’ expertise of trading, operations and risk management will be of “great benefit” to those areas of the firm.

The appointment follows the planned departure of COO and Capital Spreads co-founder Rachel Woodford last week following an announcement made in January.

Shares in London Capital Group Holdings plc (Co. Data) (AIM:LCG) have dropped 4.82 per cent to 39.50 pence per share this morning following the announcement.