Compared to other asset classes, such as equity and FX markets, fixed income has largely remained an over-the-counter market, so it is ripe for electronification, particularly in Asia, the Asia-Pacific head at MarketAxess told finews.asia.
«There's a big subset of activity in the market that is pretty low-touch, which could benefit from being electronified,» Riad Chowdhury, Asia Pacific head of MarketAxess, said in an interview.
The company operates an electronic bond trading platform and provides market data and post-trade services for the global fixed-income markets. Chowdhury, a fixed-income specialist who spent his career in sales and trading, joined the firm seven months ago from Standard Chartered, where he was most recently managing director and head of global execution services for Asia.
Booming Asia
Over its two decades of operations, as MarketAxess has expanded into more asset classes, it has also expanded geographically, and Asia is one of its key growth regions. The company now operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Korea.
The growth of Asia as a fixed income asset class is not surprising, Chowdhury said, noting that Asia currently makes up a large share of the global emerging market bond index.
«The growth rates are just exponential. The volumes for clients based in Asia grew 70 percent in 2020,» Chowdhury said. This year, he expects another 60 to 70 percent growth. «The runway is very long. There's a lot to do,» he said.
Growing Team
Chowdhury said he is expecting the company to grow its headcount – sales, product, tech, middle office and compliance roles – at its regional headquarters in Singapore and its branch office in Hong Kong to support MarketAxess' growth plans.
«We're hyper-focused on client feedback and innovation. We build products that we think will have applications in the marketplace. We're on a mission to change the fixed income landscape in Asia,» Chowdhury said.
