Euroclear expands to Asia

Euroclear Bank is establishing an operations centre in Hong Kong and a rep office in Beijing in order to boost its presence in Asia-Pacific.

The bank says it will add 25 new operations staff to serve clients in the region. Several senior operations and legal experts will also be relocated from the bank's Brussels-based headquarters in order to beef up its team in the territory.

Yves Poullet, chief executive officer of Euroclear Bank, says the bank's ambitions to expand processing of securities issued from Asia requires a strong presence on the ground.

"Asian financial institutions, including those in China, will look towards the international capital markets to raise capital and invest," he says. "Also the international investment community will increasingly invest in Asian capital markets, so we are positioning ourselves as the international securities depositary to settle these cross-border trades and to provide custody once these securities have been settled."

The new arrangements for a branch office in Hong Kong are expected to be in place by April, pending regulatory approval from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. A new representative office in Beijing with four fulltime staff will also open in April after clearance from regulators.

Domestic securities from eight Asia-Pacific markets are currently eligible for settlement, custody and related services at Euroclear Bank. Euroclear is the worldÆs largest provider of domestic and cross border settlement and related services for bond, equity, derivatives and fund transactions, settling $665 trillion worth of transactions annually.