The LME Board of Directors is responsible for providing leadership, either directly or through its committees, to deliver long-term value to shareholders and other stakeholders.
It also retains overall responsibility for the management of the London Metal Exchange (LME). It establishes corporate policies, sets strategic direction, ensures that an effective internal control environment is in place, and oversees the management which is responsible for day-to-day operations.
The Board however recognises that delegating its functions and authorities to its committees and the management does not absolve its overall responsibility for the sound governance.
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John Williamson is the Chairman of the London Metal Exchange, Chairman of the UK Tote Group and a Non-Executive Director on the board of Pacific Basin Shipping Limited. He is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Fellow of the Securities Institute, and a Senior Fellow of the Hong Kong Securities Institute. He was formerly a Non-Executive Director on the Board of HKEX, LME’s parent company (2008-2021) so has extensive knowledge of LME’s business and markets; and has previously served on the Boards of the Hong Kong Securities Institute and several other private companies.
Mr Williamson has worked within the finance and securities industry for over 40 years and has deep expertise across commerce, investment banking, wealth management, IT, risk, governance and regulation in capital markets. He previously held senior executive roles with Search Investment Group, Morgan Stanley, NatWest Securities and Wood Mackenzie & Co.
Mr Williamson sits on the board of a mental health charity and is a strong advocate of the diversity and inclusion agenda.
Matthew Chamberlain is the CEO of the London Metal Exchange and a member of the Management Committee of HKEX Group.
Mr Chamberlain joined the LME in 2012, having advised HKEX on the acquisition of the LME while at UBS. He started his career at Citibank, and holds an MA from Trinity College, Cambridge.
Nicholas Allen was appointed as a non-executive director of the London Metal Exchange in February 2023. Mr Allen is also been an independent non-executive director of HKEX since 2021 where he hold the positions of HKEX Audit and Risk Committee member, and deputy chairman of Listing Appeals Committee at the The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.
Other major offices Mr Allen holds include:
- Link Asset Management Limited (as manager of Link Real Estate Investment Trust *) - chairman and independent non-executive director (2016~)
- Mordril Properties Limited - independent non-executive director (2019~)
- CLP Holdings Limited * - independent non-executive director (2009~)
Laura Cha was appointed an independent non-executive director of the London Metal Exchange on 8 May 2018. She is currently the Chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, independent non-executive director of HSBC Holdings plc and non-executive director of Unilever plc.
Ms Cha was formerly an independent non-executive director of China Telecom Corporation Limited from 2008 – 2018, the vice chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission from 2001 to 2004 and held various roles within Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, including deputy chairman, between 1991 and 2001.
Ms Cha is a qualified lawyer. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Santa Clara University and was admitted to the State Bar of California. Ms Cha is also an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute.
Martin Fraenkel was appointed as an independent non-executive director at the London Metal Exchange February 2023.
Mr Fraenkel has had a diverse, broad international 40-year career in the commodities markets, holding roles across physical and financial markets. Most recently, he was President (CEO) of S&P Global Platts and a member of the Operating Committee of S&P Global Inc. Prior to that he was Managing Director, Global Head of Energy at CME Group. He was formerly Global Head of Commodities at Credit Agricole CIB and Managing Director and Global Head of Base Metals, Energy and Agriculture at JP Morgan Chase.
He holds a BA in PPE from the University of Oxford, an MA in International Affairs from The John Hopkins University and an MBA from INSEAD. He currently chairs the Boards of VAKT Global Ltd, a private blockchain business, and of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, a leading orchestra. He has previously served, among others, on the Boards of CRISIL Ltd, which is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, and on the London Bullion Market Association Ltd; and also chaired the London Gold Market Ltd.
Anthony Stuart was appointed as an independent director of the London Metal Exchange on 26 April 2016. Mr Stuart is a Chartered Accountant and Investment Banker. He was a Managing Director and Executive Committee member with N M Rothschild, where for thirty years he advised on strategy, financing and M&A for a wide variety of companies in the UK, Europe and Australia.
He has held a number of non-executive directorships since his retirement in 2011 and currently is the Honorary Treasurer and a Council member at the University of Surrey. He is also an independent director of LME Clear Limited.
Nigel Dentoom joined the LME Board as a Non-Executive Director in July 2023. He is also the CEO of Metdist Enterprises Ltd. Mr Dentoom has over four decades experience in the financial and physical metal markets, having held leadership roles in a number of LME member firms, physical trading operations in refined metal and concentrates, the junior mining space and exchange trading platforms.
Mr Dentoom has served on the boards of more than 30 companies – principally in the physical commodity and derivatives markets – in Executive, Non-Executive and Chair capacities, including having served on a number of LME advisory committees, most recently on the LME User Committee and the LME Copper Committee. He is currently a member of the US Copper Club.
Relevant former positions:
CEO and Non-Executive Director of CCBI Metdist Global Commodities UK Ltd (2016-2018)
Independent Non-Executive Director of Sucden Financial Ltd (2011-2014)
Executive Chairman of LN Metals International Ltd (2002-2012)
CEO of Mocatta Base Metals (1987-1996) and Group Chief Executive of The Mocatta Group (1996-1998)
Nicolas Aguzin joined HKEX as Chief Executive Officer on 24 May 2021 from J.P. Morgan, where he was most recently Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan’s International Private Bank. Mr Aguzin has been based in Hong Kong since 2012.
From 2013 to 2020, Mr Aguzin was CEO, J.P. Morgan, Asia Pacific where he was responsible for all the firm’s business across 17 markets. Mr Aguzin presided over some of the firm’s major expansion efforts during the period, including establishing itself in China as one of the few international financial institutions with a full range of services and capabilities; including a fully-owned locally incorporated commercial bank, a majority-owned securities company, an asset management company and a futures and options company. Concurrent with his Asia CEO role, Mr Aguzin also ran J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking division in Asia. During his tenure the bank rose to become one of the leading investment banks in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr Aguzin joined J.P. Morgan in 1990 in Buenos Aires as a financial analyst. Between 1990 and 2005, he held a variety of roles in New York and Buenos Aires, and in 2005 he was appointed as CEO, Latin America. In 2008 and 2009, in addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Latin America and Head of Latin America Investment Banking, he served as Senior Country Officer for Brazil.
Mr Aguzin holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the US and is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English.
Richard Leung joined HKEX in October 2011 and is currently the Group Chief Technology Officer. In his position, Mr Leung is responsible for the technology strategy and operations in Hong Kong, London and the Chinese mainland. He leads the technology effort across the Group to ensure the development and operations efforts are coordinated and the engagement with the vendors is optimised.
Mr Leung has worked with exchange and financial sector technology over the past three decades. Prior to joining HKEX, he was the Chief Technology Officer for Chi-X Global. Mr Leung joined Chi-X Global in conjunction with Chi-X Global’s 2008 acquisition of Cicada. Prior to joining Cicada, Mr Leung held a 14-year career with Dow Jones Telerate in the Asia Pacific region, where he served in various senior technical positions.
Pierre Vareille was appointed as independent non-executive director at the London Metal Exchange in February 2023.
Mr Vareille has extensive experience of the metals sector both as an executive and non-executive, across the full value chain. He was formerly CEO of Constellium, a global aluminium products manufacturer; and Wagon, a car parts manufacturer. He previously worked for both Pechiney and Alcan, gaining in-depth experience of aluminium processing. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Vallourec S.A. and Verallia S.A., both listed in France; and sits on the Board of Outokumpu, which is listed in Finland. From 2017 until 2019, he served on the Board of London-listed Ferroglobe, one of the world's leading suppliers of silicon metal, silicon-based and manganese-based speciality alloys.
Mr Vareille has a Masters in Engineering from the École Centrale Paris, and a Masters from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.
Other positions held with the Group:
HKEX Group Chief Risk Officer
HKFE, HKSCC and SEHK – chairman of Disciplinary Committee
Past offices:
Credit Suisse AG – chief risk officer, Asia Pacific (2016-2020)
JP Morgan Chase – global head of market risk management (2012-2016)
JP Morgan Securities LLC – chief risk officer (2012-2016)
JP Morgan (1995-2012): global head of equity risk management (2007-2012), regional head of market risk management, Asia Pacific (2004-2007), head of risk management (1999-2004), and fixed income proprietary trader (1995-1999)
Qualifications:
Bachelor of Arts (Mathematics) (University of Cambridge, UK)