Howard Lutnick, CEO of interdealer broker, infrastructure and data provider, BGC Group, has said he would leave the business entirely if he is appointed Secretary of Commerce to the US administration, as currently nominated by US President, Donald Trump.
“So, my plan is to only serve the American people, so I will divest and I will sell all of my interests, all of my business interests, all of my assets, everything,” he told a Senate nomination hearing on 29 January 2025. “I’ve worked at together with the Officer of Government Ethics, and we’ve reached agreement on how to do that, and I will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation. So, I should have no business interests, therefore, no conflicts of interest.”
BGC Group is currently going head-to-head with CME Group after opening its FMX Futures Exchange in September 2024, with a planned launch of US Treasury futures in Q1 2025 to rival the CME’s flagship contract.
Speaking on the firm’s most recent earnings call on 31 October 2024, he gave an appraisal of the business’s launch to that point.
“We said we would open with between three and five futures commission merchant (FCMs) and we opened with five FCMs, which we listed today. We do expect over the next two quarters to hopefully have all of the balance of the partners connected. That would be our objective, plus a few others. Many FCMs just didn’t start the process of connecting until after it was fully approved, and after it was announced and after when it was opening, it’s just a process, which we were totally aware of.”
He added the firm’s expectation was taking a full year to get 50 FCMs and these initially engaged in cash Treasury and foreign exchange trading. The firm announced a 2o% increase in Treasury trading revenues quarter on quarter (QoQ) for Q3 and a 15% increase in QoQ FX revenues.
“There’s a whole variety of teething pains of trying to make it smoother, simpler, easier for the FCMs and the LCH,” he said. “That’s a process that’s always ongoing. I would expect that much of that to sort its way out through the end of this year.”
BGC Group is due to announce Q4 2024 and full-year 2024 earnings on 14 February 2025.
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