CFI Names Federico Cirulli Chairman as Founders Become Non-Executive Directors

CFI Financial Group named Federico Cirulli as chairman on Wednesday, completing a board handover that moves the brokerage's co-founders into non-executive roles. Cirulli, an independent director, replaces co-founder Hisham Mansour at the head of the board, while co-founder Eduardo Fakhoury steps down as vice-chairman. Both men will remain on the board as non-executive directors, and CFI said its executive team and business plans are unchanged.

The move extends a succession process that started in June 2025, when Ziad Melhem became group chief executive officer. Mansour and Fakhoury stepped down as managing directors at that point and moved into the chairman and vice-chairman seats. Cirulli joined the CFI board in November 2025 as one of three independent directors, alongside David Haglund and Prema Varadhan. CFI did not say whether the chairman role has a fixed term, whether Cirulli will sit on specific board committees, or whether the position carries executive duties.

"We built CFI with the ambition for it to grow beyond its founders," Mansour said.

Growth Adds to Board Workload

The board changes come as CFI reports heavier trading activity and a wider regulated footprint. The group said first-half 2026 trading volume reached $5.34 trillion, with second-quarter volume of $3.03 trillion, up 31% from the previous quarter and 101% from a year earlier. CFI also reported more than 42.47 million trades over the six months, a 74% year-over-year increase, while active clients rose 8.4% in the second quarter from the same period of 2025. CFI did not provide the methodology behind those figures.

Its regulatory reach now spans 15 entities after Brazil's central bank authorized a local securities brokerage in April. CFI entered Colombia through a representative office in 2025 and later added direct access to more than 40 Dubai-listed stocks.

Melhem said the expansion of licensed markets increases the board's responsibilities. "Growth and scale bring obligations, not just opportunities," he said.

Cirulli has more than 20 years of experience in retail brokerage and asset management. He is chief executive officer of Atlantide Asset Management and serves on the board of Marzotto SIM. He previously led the UK businesses of ActivTrades and Swissquote, was chief executive officer of MIG Capital, and earlier headed business development for Southern Europe at CMC Markets.

Other trading firms have also reshuffled their boards this year: Britannia Global Markets appointed Lord Stanley Fink as chairman in August, and CMC Markets added banking lawyer Emma Earp as a non-executive director in April.