Canadian stock trading company opens in HK

Canada's largest proprietary trading company, SwiftTrade Inc, today (November 4) launched its first Hong Kong operations - Day and Night Securities Limited.

Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong Simon Galpin said that Hong Kong, as the international financial centre in Asia, offered many business opportunities for all kinds of foreign financial services companies.

"Our reliable and sophisticated IT and telecommunications infrastructure allows time-sensitive businesses like SwiftTrade to operate with full efficiency anytime of the day or night," he said.

Headquartered in Toronto, SwiftTrade is the first and the largest direct access electronic trading centre in Canada. The firm has been operating since 1997.

The firm's proprietary traders actively trade the NASDAQ, AMEX, NYSE and CME markets, executing upwards of 50,000 transactions representing an average of 60 to 100 million shares every day.

SwiftTrade's President Peter Beck said he was excited about the firm's expansion to Hong Kong. "The large population of highly educated and motivated people here have allowed us to find a team of good traders."

"We also have plans to put a data centre in the city to support all our Asian offices. We are currently working to provide our traders with access to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which will greatly expand our opportunities here," Mr Beck said.

Ends/Thursday, November 4, 2004