Richard Balarkas,
managing director, Investment Banking
Credit Suisse

Richard Balarkas is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse in the Investment Banking division, based in London. He has global responsibility for Advanced Execution Services (AES) sales in the Equities department.

Mr. Balarkas joined Credit Suisse First Boston in 1998 upon the purchase of BZW, where he was responsible for electronic trading. Prior to BZW, Mr. Balarkas was a founder and CEO of the City Group for Smaller Companies (CISCO) which played a central role in the creation of new exchanges for high growth companies in Europe. Before forming CISCO, he was Head of National Market Development in the markets division at the London Stock Exchange, where he oversaw the introduction of the LSE's first order driven trading systems. Mr. Balarkas began his career at Cap Group plc.

Mr. Balarkas has represented Credit Suisse on a wide number of regulatory, stock exchange and industry committees and working groups. In 2007 he was elected Global Co-chair of FIX Protocol Ltd, the organization responsible for defining global standards in electronic trading.