- Jane Street is rapidly expanding legal, compliance and government-affairs hiring, including bringing in Goldman Sachs MD Colleen O’Brien plus senior staff from UBS, Clear Street and BNP Paribas.
- The buildout follows SEBI’s India probe into alleged Bank Nifty manipulation, which led to a temporary trading ban and roughly USD 570 million placed in escrow.
- Amid rising regulatory and reputational risk, Jane Street has started U.S. lobbying and regulator outreach after years of avoiding Washington.
- Despite the scrutiny, the firm is projected to generate about USD 30 billion in 2025 trading revenue as it shifts activity toward rates and ETFs.
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Jane Street is undergoing a strategic recalibration across legal, compliance, and government relations dimensions, driven by heightened external pressures—particularly from SEBI in India—and by the need to manage relationships with regulators proactively. The firm’s recent senior hires and compliance headcount expansion indicate that it is constructing a more robust architecture to withstand regulatory scrutiny globally. Legal talent like Colleen O’Brien (formerly Goldman Sachs), Andrew Weg (from Clear Street and UBS), and Jeffrey Siegel (BNP Paribas) speak to a shift toward deeper expertise in litigation/regulatory proceedings, trade compliance, and government affairs.
The India case is central to Jane Street’s current risk profile. SEBI alleges that Jane Street used coordinated trades in Bank Nifty constituents (stocks, futures, options) to push index levels in a manner that misled retail investors, earning approximately USD 4.3 billion between January 2023 and March 2025 in India, of which an interim USD 570 million has been classified as “unlawful gains”. The company was banned temporarily but allowed to resume trading after complying.
Despite its traditionally low profile—which included avoiding Washington lobbying for some 20 years—Jane Street is now engaging with U.S. regulators, paying over USD 160,000 to Hogan Lovells and meeting with departments such as Treasury, Commerce, and the Executive Office of the President. This suggests a shift toward defensive posturing in governance and regulatory risk management.
Financially, Jane Street remains remarkably successful. Even discounting Indian revenues—now complicated by regulatory constraints—the firm is on pace to generate USD 30 billion in trading revenues in 2025, up around 50% year-on-year. India had been its strongest region, but after the SEBI interim order and operational constraints, revenue sources have been shifting toward US Treasuries, interest rates, and Asian ETFs.
Strategic implications include: enhanced legal risk and regulatory compliance burdens; reputational risk among investors and counterparties; possible structural operational shifts away from high-risk growth markets; liquidity and financial buffers to cover fines or required escrow; and the necessity of government relations capability in multiple jurisdictions. Open questions involve how SEBI’s final order will impact Jane Street’s business model, whether similar scrutiny may follow in other emerging markets or from U.S. regulators, and how the firm will balance aggressive trading strategies with regulatory compliance.
Supporting Notes
- Jane Street hired Colleen O’Brien, formerly a Managing Director and senior counsel for litigation and regulatory proceedings at Goldman Sachs; also Andrew Weg from Clear Street and UBS; and Jeffrey Siegel from BNP Paribas to head government and regulatory affairs.
- SEBI’s interim order, issued in July 2025, alleges Jane Street made roughly USD 4.3 billion trading gains in India between January 2023 and March 2025, imposing a freeze (or oversight) on approximately USD 570 million as “unlawful gains.”
- The firm’s operations were temporarily suspended from India’s securities markets as of early July 2025; trading resumed after the escrow deposit of rupees 48.4 billion (~USD 564-570 million).
- Jane Street has begun lobbying in Washington, changing a long-standing position—hiring Hogan Lovells (USD 160,000 from July-September) and engaging with U.S. federal departments.
- Projected trading revenue for 2025 is USD 30 billion, a 50% increase over 2024, notwithstanding India exposure; during this period, the firm shifted more of its focus to U.S. Treasury, interest-rate, and Asian ETF markets.