Obituary
MarketVoice regrets to report the passing of Sir Bob Reid, the former chairman of the board at ICE Futures Europe, at the end of May. He had just celebrated his 91st birthday. In a statement, ICE Futures Europe praised his profound impact on the development of ICE Futures Europe, ICE Clear Europe, and Intercontinental Exchange as a whole.
Reid became chairman of International Petroleum Exchange in 1999 when it was a member-owned energy futures market with an open outcry trading floor. He led the demutualisation of the IPE in 2000. Believing that electronic trading was the future, Reid negotiated the sale of the IPE to Intercontinental Exchange in 2001. He oversaw the transition by ICE of the IPE to fully electronic trading in 2005 and guided the expansion of ICE Futures Europe’s business to include LIFFE’s markets following ICE’s acquisition of NYSE Euronext in 2013. He was also the first chairman of ICE Clear Europe, the first derivatives clearing house to be established in London for over 100 years.
With a hands-on approach, Reid oversaw the rapid expansion of ICE Clear Europe, guiding it through key moments with a mix of skill, experience and ever-present good humour, former colleagues tell MarketVoice. He retired from his roles at ICE and ICE Futures Europe in 2015, and from ICE Clear Europe in 2016.
Prior to ICE, Reid had a long career at a wide range of organisations, including as chair of Shell UK, chairman of British Rail and as deputy governor of the Bank of Scotland, among much else.
In his published autobiography, No Condition is Permanent; Risk, Adventure and Return: The Business of Life in 2022, he notes “the fascination of leadership is the opportunity it provides for working with people,” and “people’s dedication to continued achievement is what makes working with them so motivating.”
People news
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