Asia’s low-latency scalable trading infrastructure lags behind North America and Europe
Barry Smith, Director of Exchanges & Trading Venues at Equinix discusses challenges and opportunities of the data centre business in Asia. October 25, 2013 | Mobasher KazmiIn April 2013, Barry Smith was appointed director of Exchanges & Trading Venues at Equinix, a US-based provider of carrier-neutral data centres and internet exchanges. His principal responsibility centres on supporting growth of trading platforms by facilitating use of Equinix’s vast financial ecosystem to connect exchanges with respective market players and end-users. Barry’s current focus is on Asia where he sees both challenges and opportunities for Equinix in expanding its data center business. The ability to link market participants quickly within a secure network infrastructure has been its key selling feature. With 18 data-centres strategically located across the Asia-Pacific rim, Equinix appears to be well-positioned to service the various local trading venues and clearing and settlement agencies. However, a critical challenge has been the decision by prominent exchanges in Asia such as the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEx) to build its own data centre, or the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) to operate its own data facility. Exchanges in China are equally keen on owning and operating their own data centres and have instead sought assistance from third-party carrier neutral companies in capacity building and technology transfer. Barry noted that many Asian exchanges, especially on the equities side, were also building their own co-location offerings. Exchanges now consider the execution of securities trading, down to nanoseconds, an important part of their overall business strategy. Trading venues that can efficiently service the needs of high algorithmic trading will be rewarded with continued liquidity. Aside from equities Barry opined that “a lot of instruments are very global” underscoring the inherent advantage of foreign exchange markets, whose transactions are far more mobile than equities with currencies trading in multiple regions. Barry stated that, “we have seen a huge growth in electronic matching in T... Please login to read the complete article. If you already have an account, you can login now or subscribe/register.
Categories: Markets & Exchanges, Trading & DataMarkets Exchanges,Trading & Data, Markets & Exchanges,Trading & Data, Keywords:Barry Smith, Equinix, HKEx, TSE, Electronic Matching, Foreign Exchange Markets, Trade Repositories Barry Smith, Equinix, HKEx, TSE, Electronic Matching, Foreign Exchange Markets, Trade Repositories
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