Exclusive: ETF 'godfather' Browne to join Cantor Fitzgerald

Reggie Browne, the former head of the exchange-traded funds team at KCG Holdings Inc, is joining Cantor Fitzgerald's ETF market making team, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters Thursday.

Browne, known as "the Godfather of ETFs," and two other managers on his team left KCG earlier this month after being unable to agree on the terms of new contracts, a source told Reuters at the time. KCG is the trading firm formed in July after GetcoHolding Co's $1.4 billion takeover of Knight Capital Group.

The managers who left with Browne were Eric Lichtenstein and Darren Taube. It could not be determined if Taube and Lichtenstein were leaving with Browne, when Browne will officially start his new position or what his title will be.

Calls and e-mails to a Cantor Fitzgerald spokeswoman, Lichtenstein and Taube was not immediately returned. Browne declined to comment.

Browne joined Knight along with Lichtenstein and Taube in 2009 from brokerage Newedge USA.

(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel; Additional reporting by Ashley Lau; Editing by Nick Zieminski)