Interactive Brokers is betting on more growth coming from Asia, with the launch of its Singapore office located at Marina Bay Financial Centre.
Known for its low-cost trading platform, Interactive Brokers will be able to offer Singapore stocks to investors in the country and directly market its extensive offerings to better serve traders and wealth managers as its business in the region grows, it announced on Tuesday.
The opening of its new office comes as other brokers have exited Singapore or decreased their commitment to the country, including Charles Schwab, which shut its doors in 2019 after only two years in the city-state.
The Nasdaq-listed firm received an approval-in-principle for a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Capital Markets Service license in September and has been building up its team, led by head of sales Guillaume Roux-Chabert and chief executive officer, former investment banker Kevin Tan Kim Leng.
Asian Growth
According to Interactive Brokers, over 37 percent of accounts are now from Asia, up from 27 percent in 2017, and growth continues to be strong.
«As our client base continues to rapidly increase in Singapore, it was important to create a presence on the ground to support and service active traders and the wealth management community,» David Friedland, the firm's Asia Pacific managing director, said in the announcement.
With the addition of Singapore, the firm now has nine entities around the globe in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Luxembourg and the U.K., serving over 876,000 clients accounts in more than 220 countries and territories.
