CFI Financial Brings in Former Hantec CTO as Senior Technology Advisor
What Has CFI Announced?
CFI Financial has appointed Michael O’Sullivan, previously Chief Technology Officer at Hantec Markets, as Senior Technology Advisor. The move adds senior operational experience to CFI’s leadership bench as the group continues to grow across multiple regions and regulatory environments.
O’Sullivan will advise CFI’s executive leadership on technology operations, infrastructure, and long-term platform planning, according to people familiar with the matter. While the role is advisory rather than executive, industry participants view the appointment as a clear signal that CFI is placing renewed attention on the technical foundations of its brokerage operations.
Investor Takeaway
Who Is Michael O’Sullivan?
O’Sullivan brings more than a decade of experience in retail FX and CFD brokerage technology. Most recently, he served as CTO at Hantec Markets, following an earlier at the firm. His career also includes time as at INFINOX and senior technology and delivery roles at ATFX.
Earlier in his career, O’Sullivan worked at CMC Markets, one of the longest-established providers of . Across these roles, his focus has consistently been on operating live environments rather than building greenfield consumer products.
That background is often valued by brokers moving from rapid expansion into a more operationally demanding phase. Running high-volume, always-on trading systems requires experience across pricing, liquidity connectivity, execution monitoring, risk controls, client onboarding, payments, and incident response under real market stress.
Why Does the Timing Matter for CFI?
CFI Financial has expanded steadily across regions, adding licenses and entities in diverse jurisdictions. While growth opens new markets, it also introduces complexity. Technology stacks that work well for a single entity can become fragmented as firms add regions, products, and regulatory requirements.
Over time, differences can emerge in onboarding flows, CRM systems, execution bridges, liquidity arrangements, and monitoring tools. Left unchecked, this fragmentation can lead to uneven execution quality, higher operational risk, and rising costs.
Advisory roles at this stage typically focus on architecture review rather than surface-level feature development. That includes assessing system reliability, observability, vendor overlap, release processes, and how incidents are handled across regions.
CFI has not outlined a public roadmap tied to the appointment, but the timing suggests a focus on aligning infrastructure across its operations rather than chasing incremental front-end enhancements.
Investor Takeaway
