SOVA Capital hires Steven Woolley as new head of compliance

Sova Capital has moved to beef-up it top ranks, hiring several well-known names in the City as it prepares to expand its geographical footprint.

Chief among those was Steven Woolley, who joined the broker as Head of Compliance and Money Laundering Reporting Officer.

Hired alongside him as independent non-executive directors were three other industry veterans: David Newton, Kerim Derhalli and Oleg Borunov.

Commenting on the new hires, Sova boss, Sergey Sukhanov, said: "I welcome David, Kerim, Oleg and Steven at a critical juncture in Sova Capital's expansion strategy.

"Indeed, as we focus on strengthening our presence on Western Markets while simultaneously continuing to maintain our dominance in Emerging Markets; ensuring that we remain abreast and in compliance with all regulatory and compliance developments, is fundamental to our future success."

Woolley brought with him over 20 years' experience in the legal and compliance function, including as Head of Compliance at Trium Capital LLP, PineBridge Investments and ABN AMRO.

Newton, previously of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was a partner, had 25 years' of experience primarily in financial services under his belt and would take up the post of Chairman of the Board Audit Committee, the company said in a statement.

For his part, with 30 years' experience at various tier-one investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank, Derhalli was named as chairman of the Board Risk and Compliance Committee.

Derhalli was also named to Sova Capital's Audit and Remuneration and Nomination Committees.

Borunov was deputy Chairman of the board at Credit Bank of Moscow, the second-largest private bank in the Russian Federation, as well as its head of Investment Business, having previously led VTB Capital's global equities arm, having also held executive posts at Deutsche Bank and UFG.