Singapore Exchange (SGX) has hired Jenny Chiam as senior vice president of head of securities to lead the venue’s equities strategy.
Chiam will drive the exchange’s equities business and joins from Nomura Securities Singapore, where she held the role of CEO and head of Southeast Asia equities. She will begin 1 July.
Chiam replaces Nels Friets, who held the position for two years after coming out of retirement for the role. He will continue with SGX until September in an advisory role.
“With her wealth of experience in equity market products and intimate understanding of customer needs, I am confident that Jenny will further develop our Securities market and ensure SGX progresses as an innovative, customer-focused organisation,” said SGX president Muthukrishnan Ramaswami. “I would also like to thank Nels for his contribution to SGX over the last 2 years and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Friets has overseen a drive by the exchange to adjust its infrastructure to entice high-frequency trading (HFT) firms for its equities market. In 2011, SGX migrated to a new trading engine, Reach.
As part of a US$200 million infrastructure overhaul, the Reach engine offers 10 times more capacity than the previous system and improved latency standards. Co-location services through the exchange’s data centre were launched in 2011 in addition to the elimination of the hour-and-a-half lunch break.
These measures were apparently successful in attracting a greater proportion of HFT firms, which had a marked impact on the venue’s revenues for the year.