One of the co-founders of a giant asset manager is now advising and helping to oversee an electronic direct lending exchange for banks and other financial services firms.

Barbara Novick American Financial Exchange Independent Director

Yesterday Richard Sandow, chairman and CEO of the American Financial Exchange (AFX), confirmed that Barbara Novick has joined the Chicago-based exchange's board as an independent director. The move comes after Novick retired from BlackRock in February, shifting from vice chairman to senior advisor there.

Though AFX (which offers AMERIBOR, an interest rate benchmark meant to be an alternative to LIBOR) mostly works with banks (174 of them are members), the exchange also has 44 non-bank members, including asset managers (as well as B-Ds, futures commission merchants, hedge funds, insurers, and PE firms.)

Sandor lauds Novick as "a true trailblazer who has been at the forefront of finance." Novick, for her part, praises the AFX team's efforts to "envision and blaze a trail toward the future of American banking."

"The world has changed, and the financial industry will come to recognize that the time for one single benchmark has passed, and we will find that multiple benchmarks tailored to the needs of individual banking sectors is the path forward," Novick states. "One size does not fit all."

Novick co-founded BlackRock in 1988 and led its global client group for 20 years, then shifted to create and lead the firm's global public policy group for more than a decade. She is an alumna of Cornell University and currently serves on several other boards, including: the Center for Financial Stability advisory board; the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation; the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership advisory board; and the Peterson Institute for International Economics board. 

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