Tradeweb Markets, a developer and provider of electronic trading and trade processing for the financial markets, has appointed Bob Paul, a former general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as a member of its global compliance and legal team.  The move positions the firm with a seasoned chief compliance officer in place for its swap execution facility (SEF), following finalization of derivatives regulation by the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tradeweb has been actively preparing for the registration of its current swaps platform as a SEF for more than a year. Among the initiatives completed in preparation for the new rules are electronic links to all the major clearing houses, integration with order management systems, development of "SEF-ready" trading protocols, and a legal review of requirements to rapidly complete SEF registration.

Paul joined the CFTC in 1999, where he negotiated a joint regulatory structure with the SEC for security futures and played a significant role in the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. After leaving the CFTC in 2001, Paul was appointed general counsel of OneChicago, which he helped launch as the first exchange in the U.S. to trade security futures products, including futures contracts on individual equity stocks and narrow-based stock indices.