DeFi Technologies Inc., a technology company bridging the gap between traditional capital markets and decentralized finance, announces that its subsidiary Valour Inc. (“Valour“), an issuer of digital asset exchange traded products (“ETPs“), has appointed Tommy Fransson to the role of Chief Executive Officer starting January 1, 2022. Mr. Fransson was previously at the Nordic Growth Market (“NGM“) where he was Deputy CEO for ten years and Head of the Nordic Derivatives Exchange. Mr. Fransson will replace Diana Biggs, who will move to DeFi Technologies, Valour’s parent company, in the role of Chief Strategy Officer.
This announcement follows Valour’s exponential growth since its launch last December, with Assets Under Management (“AUM“) as of October 25, 2021 at over US$290M, up 3033%.
Mr. Fransson joined NGM in 2002, where he first worked across business development, sales, listing and market surveillance. As deputy CEO, he took responsibility for sales, listing, business development and marketing. He was in charge of the IPO market – the listing of small and medium enterprises (“SMEs“) – and developing the exchange’s strategy, its geographical expansion and its clients.
Mr. Fransson became Head of the Nordic Derivatives Exchange in 2008, developing its infrastructure and driving income-related sections of the business, including building distribution, expanding alternative asset classes, and trading. He was also involved in the acquisition of NGM by Boerse Stuttgart in November 2008. He was appointed Deputy CEO of NGM in 2011.
Mr. Fransson was also Chairman and co-founder of the Swedish Exchange Traded Products Association (“SETIPA“), created to support the development of ETPs, and was previously a Board member of the European Structured Investment Products Association (“EUSIPA“).
Mr. Fransson will work closely with the newly appointed COO, Frances Edwards, and the management team of DeFi Technologies and Valour to lead Valour’s next phase of growth, as Valour continues to expand its product offerings internationally, starting with additional European markets.
Diana Biggs, Chief Executive Officer of Valour, said: “Tommy’s decade at NGM has given him a highly detailed knowledge of the Nordic and wider European markets, while his roles and experience gained at SETIPA and EUSIPA will bring great value for our ETP offering. This depth of expertise in traditional markets is so important to Valour as we build our presence in the Nordics, in Germany, with our new listing, and across Europe and beyond.”
“Since bringing Valour to market last December, we’ve made incredible strides – multiple products listed, new markets, and a growing team, including a COO who joined us from Blackrock – and there’s much more to come. Tommy has the exact, material knowledge to build upon what we’ve created. We couldn’t be happier that he’s agreed to join us, and I look forward to continuing to work with him in my new capacity at DeFi Technologies.”
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Mr. Fransson said: “I firmly believe that digital assets are the financial revolution of our generation. We have seen tremendous pace and development in the industry and there is so much potential within the asset class. I know the Valour founding team extremely well, having worked with them for several years. They really focus on the core essence of bringing the potential of digital assets to fruition – challenging and supporting traditional institutions to operate and benefit securely from digital assets. Having observed Diana and her team driving Valour’s growth so successfully and having operated from the NGM side, I am delighted to take on this role and work with the Valour and DeFi Technologies teams to build out Valour’s offering further. They are fantastic individuals and I look forward to this new challenge.”
As of October 25, 2021, Valour has surpassed US$290m in AUM from the trading of its products on the NGM and Boerse Frankfurt Zertifikate AG (“Frankfurt“). Progress has been a result of tremendous investor demand for exposure to digital assets, via financial products which make accessing one of the best performing asset classes of the last decade secure, transparent and straightforward. Valour entered the German market for the first time in October 2021 with the listing of its Bitcoin Zero and Ethereum Zero products, followed by Valour Uniswap, a world’s first, on Frankfurt.
Mr. Fransson will begin at Valour on January 1, 2022. Ms. Biggs will continue in her role as CEO until Mr. Fransson joins, as well as fulfilling her role at DeFi Technologies.
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