Instinet has snapped up two sales heads from fellow agency broker ITG as it continues to develop its electronic trading business in Asia.
Stephanie Tam, who was previously responsible for managing and developing relationships with electronic trading clients for ITG in Hong Kong, joins Instinet as sales director, Asia (ex-Japan). Her new role will include growing Instinet’s electronic trading presence and product footprint in Asia. Tam has also held positions at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
Jason Ledell joins Instinet as head of product sales in Japan, having previously worked in Tokyo with ITG. Ledell worked for ITG in New York before relocating to Asia in early 2007.
The new hires continue a series of efforts from Instinet to bolster its workforce in the Asia-Pacific region over the past ten months. As well as the addition of four new executives in Australia in February, Makoto Nagahori has moved from Instinet’s New York office to lead its Japanese sales trading team from Tokyo, while Kym Graham, now head of Asia-Pacific sales (ex-Japan), and Bryce Kelly, head of Asia-Pacific product strategy, have joined the Hong Kong office from Instinet’s Australian and US operations respectively. Joel Hurewitz also joined Instinet’s Hong Kong office as head of Asia-Pacific sales to broker-dealers from CLSA-owned Asian crossing network BlocSec.
“We are focused on growing our domestic Asian client base, and demonstrating regional leadership in the provision of electronic trading tools is crucial in achieving that goal,” said Glenn Lesko, CEO for Instinet in Asia. “Traditionally, Instinet has traded more Asian equities for global clients, and global equities for Asian clients. What we are seeing now – as we continue to demonstrate to the market that our trading tools can both reduce trading costs and increase the transparency of those costs – is fast-growing demand for Asian equities from Asian clients.”