Asia

Agency broker and transaction cost analysis provider ITG has appointed former Nomura executive Bahar Brown as head of analytical sales for Asia, based in Hong Kong.

The Singapore Exchange has expanded its AsiaClear business with the launch of a new clearing service for OTC traded financial derivatives.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange plans to rebuild its Japanese futures trading market to pre-crisis levels with a new futures trading platform from NYSE Technologies, the IT arm of exchange group NYSE Euronext.

The admission of the first remote trading participant on the Tokyo Financial Exchange is expected to open the door for similar agreements on Japanese exchanges.

Growing fragmentation of liquidity and an increasing sophistication of trading strategies deployed in Asia are giving rise to a new generation of automated trading platforms, according to Alex Lamb, executive board member at trading technology provider RTS Realtime Systems Group.

Fellow agency brokers and trading technology providers Instinet and Tora have reached a reciprocal agreement that will allow clients in Japan to access their respective liquidity pools.

US agency brokerage JonesTrading is launching execution services for Japan and has appointed Kevin Horgan, formerly of agency broker BTIG, as managing director to lead its expansion into Asia.

The Singapore Exchange has stated it will list American depositary receipts of 19 major Asian companies on its new GlobalQuote board from 22 October 2010.

Ronald Gould is leaving his role as CEO of Chi-X Asia-Pacific less than one year into the job, and one week after Chi-X Global CEO John Lowrey left his position marking the departure of two key architects of what had appeared to be a successful expansion strategy in Asia.

Trading systems and connectivity provider Orc Software has introduced a new direct market access service to pan-Asian multi-product commodity and currency derivatives platform the Singapore Mercantile Exchange.