The COO at FTX is an ex-Credit Suisse analyst in Singapore
As Sam Bankman-Fried's creation crumbles under a mountain of debt, questions are being asked about how it came to this. Similar questions were asked at Credit Suisse after the Archegos scandal. But while the culpability for Archegos was pinned on multiple Credit Suisse managing directors, some of the blame at FTX might possibly be attributed to a former Credit Suisse analyst with only a few years' experience.
Constance Wang joined FTX as chief operating officer in the Bahamas in 2019. Initially, she was chief operating officer (COO) of FTX's crypto derivatives exchange. In January 2022 she was promoted as CEO of FTX digital markets, with responsibility for the Bahamas HQ. An org chart published by the Information puts her one level below Sam Bankman-Fried.
This looks like a big job. All the more so because Wang is only a few years into her career. Before she joined FTX, most of her time had been spent at Credit Suisse in Singapore.
Wang wasn't an MD at Credit Suisse. She wasn't even a director or associate director. She was an analyst and she worked at the bank for two years, first in KYC in the private bank and then in APAC risk and controls. It was her first job out of university.
Admittedly, Wang didn't go straight from Credit Suisse to FTX - there was an eight-month detour to Huobi Global, a crypto exchange in Singapore first. However, the fact that this was sufficient to land her a job in her late 20s running 'institutional clients servicing and operational procedure,' at a fund with $1bn of revenues last year, looks slightly questionable.
Wang clearly wasn't responsible for the misfortune that's befallen FTX. This accolade goes to SBF, who reportedly informed investors yesterday that he "f-cked up" and would appreciate some more money. And yet the fact that someone so junior had a job that appears to have been so senior raises questions about the competency of staff across FTX, and maybe the crypto industry as a whole.
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