< The 2016 Trading Technology 40
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Bill Chow and Richard Leung
Co-Heads of Information Technology
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing
Last year: 21
With the 2012 acquisition of the London Metal Exchange and the 2014 launch of the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect link for trades with mainland China, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing showed there was more than lip service behind its stated intention of becoming a global financial markets powerhouse. While chief executive Charles Li articulated an aggressive course of expansion over the past half decade, co-heads of information technology Bill Chow and Richard Leung powered up the engine room. Last year saw the culmination of the three-year, HK$3 billion ($387 million) IT and trading systems overhaul known as Orion and the early phases of new processing systems for cash clearing, risk and collateral management, and the central securities depository. And there will be much more on the IT executives’ plates. As chairman C.K. Chow said in January, when the HKEx 2016–’18 strategic plan was unveiled, “We aim to build new price discovery capabilities, benchmarks and risk management tools in fixed income, currency and commodities to complement our well-established equity and equity derivatives business.” Bill Chow, 59, a onetime Westpac Banking Corp. applications engineer who has been with HKEx since 1993 and holds the additional title of chief technology officer, says information security is currently a key focus: “We will invest to ensure that our capabilities in this regard are up to date and fit for purpose in both Hong Kong and London.” Leung, 52, who joined HKEx after serving as Chi-X Global’s CTO from 2008 to 2011, adds: “We are in an era of rapid advances in technology, which are capable of dramatically reshaping the financial industry. We will invest to stay on top of emerging trends in financial technologies to protect our core competitiveness.”
2016 Trading Technology 40
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