Marex Spectron Taps ABN Amro’s Chicago Brokers in U.S. Expansion

(Bloomberg) -- Marex Spectron Group Ltd. has hired a team of agricultural-commodities brokers from ABN Amro in Chicago as the London-based company seeks to expand its business in North America.

The group of 12, led by Craig Matthews, joined Marex last week. The team, known as the Matthews Group, provides execution, clearing services and research on physical agriculture markets to clients throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Marex Spectron has been boosting its presence in North America in recent years, having bought Rosenthal Collins Group, a traditional Chicago-based brokerage, and expanded its over-the-counter unit to the region. About a third of the group’s revenue now comes from North America, and the brokerage firm has previously said it wants to grow that to half.

“We are very focused on expanding our North America business,” Ram Vittal, who recently joined as the region’s chief executive officer from JPMorgan Chase & Co, said in a statement. “The breadth of our commodity coverage and global reach makes Marex Spectron a significant force in the U.S. market.”

The brokers in the Matthews Group will report to Jason Manumaleuna, chief executive officer of the Rosenthal Collins Group division. The team’s clients include farmers, grain elevators, global soybean crushers, food companies, flour millers, livestock companies as well as financial investors.

Matthews has more than 30 years of experience in agricultural commodities and began his career in 1988 at Drexel Burnham Lambert, according to the statement. That’s where he established the team, which then spent 16 years at Citigroup Global Markets. The group was most recently at ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC, where they worked for the past 12 years.

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