Administrator OpHedge hires Peter Sanchez as chief executive

Middle- and back-office administrator OpHedge Investment Services has appointed as its new chief executive Peter Sanchez, who was most recently global head of capital markets securities wholesale operations at Royal Bank of Canada.

At RBC, Sanchez managed 1,700 operations professionals in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, while having direct responsibility for operations involving fixed income and mortgage-backed securities, all derivatives and structured products and mutual funds operations as well as shareholder and fund accounting, loan operations and US and Canadian brokerage. During his 21-year career in operations Sanchez earlier held senior management positions at Greenwich NatWest/Greenwich Capital and Salomon Brothers.

OpHedge directors Myron Scholes, chairman of Platinum Grove Asset Management, and Eddy Zuaiter, chief operating officer of Soros Fund Management, co-headed the search effort on behalf of the OpHedge board.

'Peter is a true operations heavyweight and a proven leader who is viewed as a star in this industry,' Scholes says. 'His decision to join OpHedge is a testament to all that we have achieved since launching the business in May 2005. We now look forward to Peter helping us grow to the next level.'

OpHedge, which now has more than USD30bn in assets under administration, selected Sanchez following a search that began in spring last year when then chief executive Tom Chang announced plans to retire at the end of the year.

'We put in place an executive committee comprised of senior level personnel to work with Tom,' Scholes says. 'During this period OpHedge exceeded its economic and performance benchmarks, and clearly has emerged as an industry leader in the middle-and back-office space.'

Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York, OpHedge offers tailored middle- and back office solutions for a wide range of complex financial products. In addition to its offices in Rye Brook and Shanghai, OpHedge also operates a fund administration subsidiary in Grand Cayman.