Shareholders ousted Mirek

"We jointly decided that the best move would be to increase its FX expertise," said Jim Brown, managing director of TH Lee Global Internet Managers in New York. "We believe we have the best technology in the industry. This is a move to leverage that technology and broaden the expertise," Brown told FX Week.

Lewis also takes on the role of chairman of Currenex, a role previously held by Mirek’s husband Ken Pelowski, who left the company with Mirek late last year .

Another major investor said relocating Currenex’s headquarters from California to New York, which came alongside the announcement of the management change on January 20, was part of the shift away from its technology background. "The investors thought it appropriate for the company to be more centred in the financial markets," said Tom Buschman, treasury centre development manager at Shell International in London. "Shell and the other investors have always been in favour of Currenex’s move towards a financial centre like New York or London."

Other industry sources hinted that Currenex’s last round of financing, in which TH Lee Putnam and Shell participated, and which was also announced on January 20, was linked to the management change.

"In the end [Mirek] had to go to create an environment in which Currenex could get funded," said one source close to the company in London.

That was partly due to personality clashes at the firm, the source said, and partly to do with Currenex’s relationships with the banks it hoped to woo as liquidity providers. Veterans in the e-FX industry have long pointed to personality issues at the portal to explain its near 100% turnover in senior managers since 2000. Another source close to Currenex in the US said that in an industry reliant on the necessary bank relationships, outsider Currenex found it difficult.

The new set-up, agreed shareholders, rival firms and users of the platform, should help the company progress in the coming year.

Brown expects Currenex to become cashflow-positive before year-end. "We think it has more than enough cash to get to where it needs to be," he told FX Week. While Simon-Wilson Taylor, head of rival forex portal Global Link said: "This is a pause for breath. I think they’ll come out with some innovative new plans soon."

One manager at a major European corporate customer of Currenex said: "They’ve been in contact with us. We know what their plans are. I think it’s good news," he told FX Week.

Yet despite this optimism following Mirek’s departure, few would deny her achievements at Currenex.

Currenex was the first platform to go live with multi-bank FX trading when it launched in March 2000. It has often driven advances in the industry, and it has many vocal and satisfied customers. Contrary to most expectations, Currenex saw off, and outlived, competition from a rival platform, Atriax, owned by top FX banks, Citigroup, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, which closed last year.

"Lori did a fantastic job turning it from a fledgling company to something significant on the FX stage," said Brown.