Barcap Trading, Hong Kong office

Hi, im a long-time viewer and its my first post. Now I have SA offer from Barclays Capital, trading, Hong Kong Office (no specific desk for SA yet) Does anyone have any idea how Barcap trading is in asia? Top 10? What's the strength of Barcap in trading, asia? And also, can anyone give a rough ranking of the top trading houses in asia? Thanks!

15 Comments
 

hi jnl83, my concern is that i will be most likely landed in the equities desk as im only an ug student and thus not sophisticated enough to trade rates/FX. How about the equities team of Barcap in hk? and also, i heard someone said that the hk office of Barcap is quite small(they place their asia center in Singapore). Is it true? Thanks!

 

And I believe most of FICC desks in Barcap is in Singapore not in HK. HK is usually a powerhouse for equities while Singapore is for FICC

 

^^ Before China has risen to its current status in global trade & economy, Singapore had(and still has) an easier access to most Southeastern regions like Indonesia, Malaysia and to some extent, India, where commodities exporting drives most of their national economies and currencies/rates trading is pretty hot.

So basically the same reason as to why it couldn't be the hub for equity business in Asia - too close to Indonesia, Malaysia, India. No offense, but how many Malaysian companies can you name upfront?

 

yup i assumed that to be the case for HK and equities, just wasn't too sure with regards to Singapore. But now that you mention it it totally makes sense, probably can do some Aussie currencies and commodities biz too i suppose?

 

yeah AUDUSD is one of the most liquid currency pairs in the Asian time zone, maybe on par with or slightly less than USDJPY among those major ones. Base metals, along with the mining sectors, are strong in australia as well.

 

I know for Barcap case, singapore is main FICC powerhouse.. but is it the case for other banks as well?? or some banks have their major FICC desks in HK?

 
Best Response
monkeysamaStupid question. I get that FX trading may be more technical, but is it any more desirable to be on a FX desk rather than a equity desk?

What's your definition of "more desirable"?

hur5249I know for Barcap case, singapore is main FICC powerhouse.. but is it the case for other banks as well?? or some banks have their major FICC desks in HK?

As a general rule equity business is much stronger in HK while FX/commodities/rates business are stronger in SG across most banks. Barcap might have a stronger presence in singapore for strategical reasons but as far as I can tell DB, CS, RBS (all european banks by coincidence) all have bigger FICC arms in SG than in HK. Cannot confirm this for GS, MS, JPM though.

 

FX/rates is in singapore because of its proximity to SEA countries.. alot of their currencies/rates markets are actively traded in the non-deliverable offshore market (ie singapore).. SEA countries like thailand, malaysia, indonesia also tend to be commodity countries.. tons of intra-regional trade (ie potential for banks to make spreads)

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