Execution - The young pretender Located in a converted brewery in London’s fashionable East End, upstart broker Execution Limited may find itself pulled back into the mainstream if a rumoured takeover bid by Barclays Capital materialises.

But in the mean time the brokerage, set up in 2001 by Nick Finegold, the former head of equity sales and trading at Deutsche Bank, is focused on employing new traders and rolling out a new platform. Tony Nash, who joined Execution in November last year, having left Lehman Brothers, where he was the head of portfolio and electronic trading sales, said last week Execution had taken a different approach with its system, however, partnering with banks rather than building its own algorithms. Nash also said the company was looking to take on up to eight traders into its equities team before the end of the year or even sooner if the right candidates emerge.