HKEx appoints former Chi-X chief to lead tech push

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has announced the appointment of a former Chi-X Global technology head to further support the implementation of its three-year strategic plan.
By None

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) has announced the appointment of a former Chi-X Global technology head to further support the implementation of its three-year strategic plan.

Richard Leung, previously chief technology officer (CTO) for Chi-X Global – which operates alternative trading venues in Japan, Canada and pan-Asian dark pool Chi-East – will join HKEx as senior vice president and co-head of the IT division from next month.

Leung will work with the exchange's platform development division to lead a number of initiatives including the rollout of a new market data system and securities trading platform.

Leung will lead HKEx's IT unit with Bill Chow, CTO at the exchange focused on managing IT infrastructure and operations, derivatives trading, clearing, settlement, risk management and enterprise systems. Both will report to Charles Li, CEO, HKEx.

Leung's appointment means Roger Lee, current co-head of the IT division, will return to HKEx's listing division as head of listing operations from 1 January 2012.

HKEx unveiled its three-year strategic plan in March 2010 to help develop links with mainland China and improve competitiveness with other exchanges, while strengthening its technological capabilities and market structure.

The exchange's new trading platform, scheduled for launch by the end of the year, will represent a tenfold improvement over the existing system in terms of latency and capacity. The upgrade to the securities market data system will increase the throughput for market data dissemination to 2,000 stock page updates per second from 1,000 stock page updates per second at present.

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