London based online trading provider IG Group (LON:IGG) has announced that it has hired Saad Ahmed as Managing Director APAC. Saad will be based in Singapore for IG.

We had reported back in May that the CEO of IG Group Singapore, Gavin Chia, had moved to online broker Longbridge.

Saad Ahmed joins IG after spending the past two years in the digital asset world, serving as Head of Asia Pacific for New York based crypto platform Gemini. He previously spent nine years with delivery services company Grab, which acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia operations in 2018, where Saad was Head of Strategic Initiatives.

Although Saad had joined IG several months ago, he and the company chose an interesting time to release the news, i.e. at the same time that IG began a series of global layoffs, that could amount to more than 10% of the company’s 2,300 employee base.

Saad shared the following note on LinkedIn about his move to IG.

A few months into a new chapter at IG Group, and it feels like the right moment to share it properly.

IG is a market leader in trading, with a fast-growing investing and crypto proposition, and it’s backing that with real investment in product and technology across the region. What excites me is bringing those capabilities together into something that genuinely serves customers better across Asia Pacific.

Success here won’t come from importing a global playbook. It comes from local insight, disciplined execution and trust you earn. That’s what made this one compelling for me, and a few months in, it’s holding up.

Grateful to everyone who’s been part of the journey so far, and looking forward to building with the team at IG.