Graham Wellesley, 8th Earl Cowley

Graham Wellesley was born in 1965, the son of Garret Wellesley, 7th Earl Cowley and his first wife Elizabeth Lennon. He is a descendant of Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley, brother of the Duke of Wellington.[1] He spent his early years in California before coming to the UK aged 10, where he attended the American Community School in Hillingdon, west London.[2]

After graduating with a degree in economics from Franklin College, Switzerland, he served for 18 months in the Household Cavalry.[2]

Wellesley’s financial career began in 1985 as a derivatives trader at the London stockbroking firm Hoare Govett, from where he moved to two further derivatives trading roles at Banque Indosuez and ING Charterhouse.[2] In 1992, he became head of foreign exchange trading at global metals trader Gerald Metals.[2]

In 1995, he established the UK foreign exchange market maker IFX, which specialised in contracts for difference (CFDs) and spread bets on equity prices.[1] In 1999, he and another director, Lorenzo Naldini, purchased the 51% of the business owned by its US parent company IFX Corp in a buyout that left them as sole shareholders.[3]

In 2000, IFX was bought by the football pools operator Zetters for £20.4million in a reverse takeover, forming a new entity – IFX Group – with Wellesley as group chief executive. Two years later the company sold its pools business.[4]

In 2003, Wellesley and Naldini left IFX following a disagreement with the board and co-founded ODL Securities, an online foreign exchange and derivatives broker.[5]

In 2005, ODL was the whistleblower in an attempted banking fraud by US hedge fund Bayou. Bayou opened an account with ODL, depositing $101million and requesting two transactions that were refused by the management, who notified the UK Financial Services Authority.[6]

In 2010, Wellesley and Naldini sold their 50% stake in ODL to US foreign exchange firm FXCM Holdings, creating a business employing around 1,000 staff.[7] In December that year, the newly enlarged entity floated on the New York Stock Exchange.[8]

In 2013, Graham Wellesley co-founded alternative lender Wellesley & Co with three other shareholders, taking the role of chief executive.[9] The following year the company issued what at the time was the largest ever loan by a peer-to-peer lender – a £8.3million bridging loan to a UK urban regeneration scheme.[10]

Graham Wellesley is married to Claire (Brighton) Wellesley, with whom he has two sons and a daughter.