Deutsche Bank makes its first big hire of 2018

Deutsche Bank has made its first big hire of the year by appointing Krisan Haria – a former senior trader at KCG Holdings with expertise in data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence – as a synthetic strat, based in London.

Haria comes with 15 years of experience and joins the firm at a time when John Cryan, Deutsche Bank’s chief executive, has promised normal bonuses and pay increases in 2018, the first time he's done this since taking charge two and a half years ago. Last year, Cryan cancelled performance-related bonuses for senior staff.

At KCG Holdings, Haria was responsible for running the client business side of trading. He also worked on high-frequency trading models, looking to better them and testing out new-builds on them. He left KCG in September 2017, and was on gardening leave for four months, according to his LinkedIn profile.

His gardening leave coincided with the period when KCG laid off at least 60 people after it closed its London proprietary trading business in July following its acquisition by high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial. This caused many people to leave the firm – voluntarily or otherwise.

Proficient in Python, Linux and SQL, Haria is a cryptocurrency, mining and ICO (initial coin offering) expert. His earlier stints include working as a research analyst at Lloyds of London, a quantitative strategist and ETF trader at UniCredit Bank, and a head trader at Headlands Trading. Haria has a Ph.D. in Financial Mathematics from Imperial College London.

According to industry experts, artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital, mobile, cloud, and cybersecurity are emerging areas where banks will be hiring in leadership roles as they build internal technology teams.

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