Clear Street hires former Cboe chief Tilly as president

Clear Street has appointed Edward Tilly as the firm's president less than a year after the former Cboe Global Markets chief executive left the US exchange group following an investigation into his personal affairs.

The New York-based brokerage fintech on Monday said Tilly (pictured) joins after 10 years leading Cboe Global Markets, where he “oversaw and was instrumental” in growing market capitalisation to more than $18 billion (£14.1bn) from $2bn.

“Ed Tilly is, fundamentally, a seasoned capital markets entrepreneur, which makes him an excellent fit for Clear Street’s client-focused, innovative and disruptive offering. While at Cboe, he demonstrated his strategic vision and ability to drive sustainable growth in dynamic market environments,” said Clear Street co-founder and chair Uri Cohen.

“We welcome Ed to Clear Street as he takes on this important leadership role where his deep industry expertise, strategic prowess and proven leadership capabilities will be part of Clear Street’s future.”

Tilly will report to the board and work closely with Clear Street chief executive Chris Pento as “they lead Clear Street through the next phase of growth,” the fintech said.

“I am thrilled to be joining a company whose global vision is relentlessly customer-centric and whose technology platform is so unique,” said Tilly.

“Having spent more than thirty years in the financial markets hyper-focused on innovation and accessibility, Clear Street has an exciting opportunity and I am looking forward to working with Chris and his team.”

Clear Street chief executive Pento said the firm is successfully working towards its mission to modernise global capital markets and the brokerage ecosystem from when Clear Street was founded in 2018.

“Since then, we have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. We have grown into a $2.1bn company with a compelling growth story and financial profile,” said Pento, adding Clear Street’s platform has enabled it to grow the topline at a compound annual growth rate of over 50% in its core business, with that growth accelerating this year.

Pento continued: “The time is right for us to welcome Ed to the executive team as we continue to super-charge our growth plans and take Clear Street to the next level.”

In September 2023, Cboe Global Markets promoted board member Frederic Tomczyk to replace Tilly as chief executive officer, after a board investigation, supported by outside independent counsel, found Tilly had not disclosed "personal relationships with colleagues, which violated Cboe's policies and stands in stark contrast to the company's values”.

Over the past year, Clear Street has made several additions to its executive team. This includes Morgan Stanley’s former technology leader Jon Daplyn as chief information officer, who joined in September 2023, and former Goldman Sachs head of US prime, clearing, futures commission merchant (FCM) and counterparty risk Atul Pawar as chief risk officer, who joined this month.

In April, Clear Street launched its US equities and options clearing service, making the New York-based firm the first broker to enter this space in years.