Susquehanna International Group plans to triple its office space in Hong Kong to support a major hiring push, foursources said, as the U.S. trading firm expands Asia operations and seeks deeper access to China’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) market.
The Philadelphia-based group has been actively looking for new office space in the Asian financial hub over the past few weeks, said the four sources familiar with the matter but who requested anonymity as the plans are confidential.
Susquehanna declined to comment.
One potential option is to lease three floors covering over 50,000 square feet in Cheung Kong Center II, a newly redeveloped office tower in Central, three of the sources said, adding that a relocation plan has yet to be confirmed.
The global systematic market maker and trading firm currently occupies less than 20,000 square feet in the AIA Central commercial building in the city’s main business district.
The office space expansion will back Susquehanna‘s ambitious hiring plans in the city, two of the sources said.
A separate fifth source with knowledge of the matter said that the firm is focusing on opportunities in China’s rapidly growing market for ETFs and other assets to better support its global business.
Susquehanna will become the latest among global trading companies to accelerate growth in major Asian markets and leverage Hong Kong as a gateway to trade in Chinese markets.
Its peers Jane Street and IMC Group snapped up Hong Kong office space over the past year or so, boosting recovery prospects for the city’s top-tier office property market after nearly seven straight years of decline.
HONG KONG JOB POSTINGS
Susquehanna has posted over 20 Hong Kong-based full-time and internship positions just over the past week, spanning roles from quant developer, engineer and research, to compliance and talent sourcer, as per LinkedIn and job portal eFinancialCareers.
With its Asia headquarters in Sydney, Susquehanna currently employs about 70 people in Hong Kong, its website showed. Its other regional offices are in mainland China, Mumbai, Singapore and Tokyo.
As one of the earliest and top investors in China’s biggest unicorn ByteDance, Susquehanna‘s global businesses span quant trading and institutional sales, to private equity and prediction markets.
Susquehanna‘s Hong Kong expansion plan also comes as China has been looking at allowing Western trading firms to act as market makers in its rapidly growing ETF market, Reuters reported last year, citing sources.
Shanghai Stock Exchange data shows China emerged as Asia’s biggest ETF market last year with assets exceeding 6 trillion yuan ($892.5 billion). The number of onshore-listed ETF products was 1,381 last year, up 36% from 2024.
In the past few years, China has allowed various types of ETFs to be traded, including thematic and fixed-income ones, allowing global market makers to access a wider array of investment instruments, one of the sources said.
ETF market makers serve as liquidity providers, offering continuous bid and ask quotes for ETF shares. This allows investors to trade products efficiently and at a lower cost, while market makers profit from the spread.
($1 = 6.7228 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reuters
