ADSS has appointed Dan Squires as its new Chief Commercial Officer, marking a key leadership addition at the Abu Dhabi-based brokerage. Squires joins from Saxo Bank’s UK arm, where he held the same role.

He spent just over two years at Saxo’s London office, having originally joined as Head of Sales before moving into the CCO post.

“I am delighted to have started as Chief Commercial Officer at ADSS in Abu Dhabi. This is nothing to do with UK taxes / growth / politics and everything to do with the opportunity to play a part in taking the UAE’s #1 local broker into its next exciting phase of growth,” Squires commented on LinkedIn.

Three-Decade Finance Career

Squires brings more than 30 years of experience in the financial sector, with a background spanning major investment banks and trading networks. He previously held various roles at Merrill Lynch, Citi, and the Royal Bank of Canada.

Before joining Saxo, he spent over five years at institutional trading platform Liquidnet, where he worked closely with asset managers and buy-side firms.

He previously spent nearly six months at Liquidnet, starting in Business Development before becoming Head of EMEA Business Development. He also had a brief stint at the London-based AI firm Imandra

In another executive move at Saxo UK, Richard Balarkas stepped down as Chairman in March, according to a filing with UK Companies House. His resignation came just one day after Swiss banking group J. Safra Sarasin finalized its acquisition of a 70% stake in Saxo Bank. Balarkas had served on the board of Saxo Capital Markets UK Limited since 2015.

Recent Developments at ADSS

Meanwhile, ADSS began working with trading technology firm Adaptive to develop its own proprietary trading platform built entirely on cloud infrastructure early last year. The move marked a shift away from traditional data centers, positioning the Abu Dhabi-based broker among the few in the industry embracing cloud-native systems.

While some large financial institutions have started to adopt cloud technology, full replacement of legacy infrastructure remains rare. ADSS’s decision reflected a growing interest in flexible, scalable systems in the capital markets.

Unlike white-label vendors, Adaptive builds bespoke software for trading firms, allowing full ownership of the final product. As a result, the platform developed for ADSS is proprietary and specifically customized to its operational needs.

Source: Finance Magnates