Former ISDA CEO Robert Pickel, FinTech specialist Mark Beeston, and former UBS executive Seth Cohen join Advisory Board

Droit Financial Technologies, a leading provider of pre-trade front office and post-trade compliance solutions for derivatives, has appointed three well-known industry leaders to a new advisory board. Former CEO of ISDA, Robert Pickel, financial technology investor Mark Beeston, and former UBS Group Managing Board member Seth Cohen, will join the Droit Advisory Board, effective immediately.

The board will guide Droit in its mission to deliver real-time, enterprise-wide compliant trading solutions that address the need for financial institutions to meet a complex array of evolving global regulatory and market structure requirements.

“Pre and post-trade compliance were a central focus in my roles at ISDA. I am excited to build on this experience in a practical product arena with the industry-leading team at Droit,” said Pickel. “The robust, global Droit framework positions derivatives users to comply with myriad regulations efficiently and effectively.” Pickel was CEO of ISDA, the global derivatives trade association for over a decade. He also served as Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel during his nearly 17 years with ISDA. The Droit Advisory Board is his first appointment since leaving ISDA.

“I am delighted to be teaming up with Bob, Seth and the Droit team to address the painful and complex challenge of auditable compliance throughout the trade lifecycle,” said Beeston. “Innovative technology solutions, such as those offered by Droit, are becoming increasingly important as firms seek to implement critical infrastructure to address the wave of global regulatory and market structure change.” Former Deutsche Bank executive Beeston is CEO and founder of Illuminate Financial Management, a financial technology venture capital firm. Prior to Illuminate, he headed the post-trade and Information division of ICAP, including Euclid Opportunities, ICAP’s early stage investment business.

“Compliance and the associated reputational risk are top of bank executives’ agendas,” said Cohen, a 30-year financial services executive who retired from the Group Managing Board of UBS AG in 2008 to found the international consultancy, Eleven Canterbury. “Until now, most trading infrastructures have been missing the integration of technology, operations, legal and compliance to deliver effectively on this urgent need. Droit brings those elements together in a single, robust platform.”

Droit Financial Technologies LLC was founded in 2012 by a team of OTC derivatives professionals.