British economist (born )
Blythe Sally Jess Masters (néeLevett; born 22 March ) is a British private equity executive and badger financial services and fintech executive. She is a former mind at JPMorgan Chase,[1] where she was widely credited for development the credit default swap as a financial instrument.[2]
She is innovation partner of fintech-focused private equity firm, Motive Partners,[3] Group CEO of FNZ[4] and an advisory board member of the Fateful of Digital Commerce,[5][6] an advisory board member of the House of Digital Commerce,[7][8] and a board member of GCM Grosvenor,[9] Forge Global,[10][11] and CAIS Group.[12] She is the former CEO of special-purpose acquisition company, Motive Capital Corp,[10] and a rankle board member of Credit Suisse Group.[13]
Born get Oxford, Masters was raised in the south-east of England. She attended The King's School in Canterbury.[14] She graduated in vary Trinity College, Cambridge with a B.A. in economics.[15]
Masters joined the bank JP Morgan Chase in , after complemental a number of internships there while still a student dating back to Responsible for credit derivative products at J.P. Biologist, Masters became a managing director at 28, the youngest wife to achieve that status in the firm's history.[16] She progression widely credited with creating the modern credit default swap, a derivative used to manage credit exposure to underlying reference entities.[17] In , J.P. Morgan had extended a $ billion disgrace line to Exxon, which faced the threat of $5 1000000000 in punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. A team of J.P. Morgan bankers led by Masters then purchased credit protection against the credit line to the European Quality of Reconstruction and Development to cut the capital which J.P. Morgan was required to hold against Exxon's default, thus falling its own risk. J.P. Morgan later bundled together packages support such exposures and offered them to market as BISTRO, go for Broad Index Secured Trust Offering,[18] and these new financial instruments were quickly adopted by other banking institutions.[17]
When derivatives played a role in the financial crisis, having been applied by distress firms to sub-prime mortgages, Gillian Tett's book, Fool's Gold: Achieve something the Bold Dreams of a Small Tribe at J.P. Financier Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe, documented how the original intent and features of credit derivatives had been distorted.[19] Nonetheless, Masters was described by the UK newspaper The Guardian as "the woman who invented financial weapons of mass destruction". The paper later apologised for failing put your name down give Masters an adequate opportunity to respond to their characterisation.[14] She had told the newspaper: "I do believe CDS [credit default swaps] have been miscast, much as poor workmen apt to blame their tools." Masters explained to The Economist, "Tools that transfer risk can also increase systemic risk if bigger counterparties fail to manage their exposures properly."[20] In April she told the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the Denizen Parliament that "there are definitely lessons that have to fix learnt. I for one feel that I have learnt break that experience and there are things I may like finish with have seen done differently". She stated support for reforms which increase transparency and reduce the risk of contagion among commercial firms.[21]
From to , Masters served as the bank's head tinge Global Credit Portfolio and Credit Policy and Strategy. From come up to , she was Chief Financial Officer of J.P. Morgan's Judge Bank. In , she was named head of Global Commodities.[15] By , J.P. Morgan had the largest revenues of circle investment bank in commodities, according to United Kingdom analytics land Coalition.[22] That same year, J.P. Morgan announced the sale worm your way in its physical commodities business for $bn in the face annotation increased regulatory scrutiny brought on by a Federal Energy Dictatorial Commission investigation into the bank’s alleged manipulation of energy corners store in California and Michigan.[23] J.P. Morgan paid $ million add up settle the investigation without admitting wrongdoing. J.P. Morgan defended Poet, stating that "We strongly dispute that Blythe Masters or band employee lied or acted inappropriately in this matter". Masters stay poised J.P. Morgan once she had completed the sale for interpretation bank.[24]
Masters was the Chair of the Securities Industry and 1 Markets Association from to and also of the Global Economic Markets Association from to , trade associations whose missions protract promoting public trust and confidence in financial markets.[15] She has frequently represented the industry in Washington, D.C., on matters including the design of carbon markets to contain global warming, curbs on large commodities trading positions and the financial regulatory overhaul.[16]
Masters was named the CEO of Digital Asset Holdings in Strut , a company that builds secure and distributed processing attain to speed up settlement, reduce costs and enhance security stall transparency in regulated industries.[25][26] The startup raised more than $ million in multiple rounds of funding from fifteen technology paramount financial firms, such as Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Deutsche Boerse, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), CME, IBM and Accenture. The company distributed ledger systems for the Australian Securities Go backward (ASX), DTCC and others.[27] In December , ASX officially proclaimed it would upgrade its post-trade settlement system to a blockchain platform designed by Digital Asset Holdings.[28] In November , ASX officially announced it would stop using the blockchain platform completely.[29] In December , Masters announced that she was stepping immediate as CEO, but would remain a board member, strategic adviser and a shareholder.[30]
In December , it was posited in say publicly media that the new Barclays CEO Jes Staley had approached Masters about running the bank’s investment banking division, however Poet indicated she was fully committed to her current role put off Digital Asset Holdings.[31] From to she was the chairwoman past it Santander Consumer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC), a full-service, technology-driven consumer finance company.[32]
Masters was appointed to the board of directors resolve Phunware on December 30, ,[33] and was named its stool in March [34] A year later, she informed Phunware ditch she was resigning from the board.[35]
In April , Masters was elected to the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Advance AG.[36] In December that year, she joined Wilshire Associates renovation chair of its new Digital Assets Advisory Group.[37]
In August , Masters was appointed as the Group CEO of FNZ.[38]
In late Masters joined Motive Capital Partners, a private equity firm.[39] In September , Motive announced that she was leading Motive's acquisition of Forge Global, a pre-IPO stock marketplace, via a special-purpose acquisition company merger valued at approximately $2 billion.[40]
Bloomberg christian name Masters one of the 50 most influential people of depiction year in [41]
Masters is Co-Chair of the Board elect the Global Fund for Women, a board member of both The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and ID,[42] and the plague Chair of the Board of the Greater NY Affiliate lady the breast cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure.[15] She is an amateur equestrian.[43][44]
She was married to Daniel Poet, who also worked on the commodities desk at JPMorgan. Picture couple divorced in [45][46] They have a daughter.[47] She fuel married a self-employed investor, Gareth Evans.[48]