Charles Li, the former Chief Executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) from 2010 to 2020, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of fixed-income electronic trading platform MarketAxess Holdings.
During his tenure at HKEX, Li orchestrated the exchange’s expansion into fixed income, currency and commodities through the acquisition of the London Metal Exchange in 2012 and the launch of OTC Clear in 2013, as well as enhanced mutual market access with mainland China through the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Connect programs and the Bond Connect initiative.
Before joining HKEX in 2009, he was Chairman of JP Morgan China from 2003 to 2009, prior to which he was President of Merrill Lynch China.
Rick McVey, Chairman and CEO of MarketAxess, said: “We are thrilled to add Charles to the MarketAxess Board of Directors at a time when fixed income markets are expanding rapidly in the Asia region, and electronic trading is accelerating. As Chief Executive of HKEX, Charles led the firm through a decade of rapid growth by adding new asset classes and embracing electronic trading. His knowledge of market structure in Asia will be invaluable to MarketAxess as we expand our investment in the region.”
Li commented: “Ever since my involvement with the launch of Bond Connect, I have closely followed the development of the leading global fixed income trading platforms, such as MarketAxess, and believe that they will play important roles in the internationalization of the Asian bond markets.”
Li’s appointment coincides with MarketAxess’ continued growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Trading volume from its Asia-based participants reached $23.9 billion the second quarter of 2021, up 37% over the year-ago period, highlighting the continued digitization of Asian bond markets.
