AUSIEX announces resignation of CEO Eric Blewitt and appointment of Patrick Salis

29 JULY 2022

SYDNEY: The Australian Investment Exchange Limited (AUSIEX) has today announced that Chief Executive Officer Eric Blewitt has resigned and will leave the company to pursue new opportunities.

Mr Blewitt has worked with AUSIEX in various forms for more than nine years and will depart AUSIEX on 31st August 2022.

Mr Patrick Salis will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer from 1st September 2022 and in the interim will perform the role of Acting Chief Executive Officer. Mr Salis has been AUSIEX’s Chief Financial Officer since May 2021 and has worked with NRI since 2018.

Owned by Nomura Research Institute (NRI), AUSIEX specialises in equities execution, clearing and settlement services and portfolio administration for the wholesale market and was formerly the wholesale arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s broking business, CommSec.

AUSIEX Chairman, Hiroyuki Kawanami, said:

“We thank Eric for the significant contribution he has made to AUSIEX, particularly in managing the business separation from CBA over the past 12 months. He has successfully led AUSIEX through a period of enormous change together with the senior management team. Eric’s leadership and commitment have steered AUSIEX to be the largest wholesale broker in Australia with strong growth opportunities. On behalf of the AUSIEX Board, I wish Eric all the best in his future endeavours.

“Patrick is a senior executive with significant experience and achievements in growing fintech businesses. His commercial insight, vision and a strong track record positions AUSIEX well for its next phase of growth. Patrick has been part of the NRI acquisition of AUSIEX from the beginning and lead the implementation of key initiatives, including AUSIEX’s recently launched platform utilising NRI’s iSTAR back-office technology.”

Eric Blewit said:

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have led AUSIEX through its transformation to a standalone entity and repositioning it for future growth. I am confident AUSIEX’s capable and effective senior management team, led by Patrick Salis, with the backing of NRI’s ownership, will continue to drive the business to further success.”

Patrick Salis said:

“AUSIEX and NRI are a natural fit, we are well positioned, and I look forward to what we can do together. . The AUSIEX team are building the leading market utility that provides; Equities & ETO trade execution, clearing and settlement solutions (ECS) with portfolio administration services (PAS). We are independent, well capitalised with a long tradition of providing specialised proprietary technology to the capital markets industry. NRI’s deep domain expertise, strong balance sheet and high quality technology solutions put us in a unique position in Australia..”

About Patrick Salis

Patrick Salis has been AUSIEX’s Chief Financial Officer since its separation from CBA in May 2021 and commenced work with NRI in 2018, playing an instrumental role in NRI’s acquisition of AUSIEX.
Previously, Patrick held executive positions, most notably at ASX listed GBST Limited, Virgin Money Australia, and JDV Limited.

ENDS

For further information, contact:

Guy McKanna, Honner
+61 (0) 430 355 985
guy@honner.com.au

About AUSIEX

With over 25 years of experience in the local market and the backing of a multinational trading technology powerhouse, AUSIEX combines deep expertise with trusted and reliable technology to deliver trading solutions for financial institutions, intermediaries, advisers and industry participants.

Owned by Nomura Research Institute (NRI), AUSIEX specialises in equities execution, clearing and settlement services and equities administration for the wholesale market.

As one of Australia's leading providers of trading solutions, AUSIEX has used its scale, expertise and heritage to deliver value for advisers, brokers, many large institutions and tens of thousands of their clients by seamlessly connecting them to markets.