French broker Exane has doubled its variance swap trading desk to a team of four. The original pair Thomas Sisk and Yann Le Gallais, who started in the summer (DW, 6/17), have added Audrey Gary, a former structured equity salesman at SG Corporate & Investment Banking, and Pierre Maarek from IXIS Corporate & Investment Bank in Paris.
Gary also joined Exane in the summer, but is now actively brokering European and U.S. variance swaps on single names and indices. Maarek joins next month to focus on the U.S. market. Sisk said Exane is increasing its headcount because of growing demand, particularly from the U.S. It will likely make a few more hires this year, he added.