The Year of the Rabbit Marks Renewed Focus for Finalto Asia

The start of a New Year is a time for reflection, and as we celebrate the Year of the Rabbit, we look back on the previous 12 months. We chatted with CEO of Finalto Asia Alex MacKinnon, Head of Institutional Sales Alex Yap, and Chief Market Analyst Neil Wilson to get their views on the past year and what we can expect from Finalto Asia in 2023.

“Finalto Asia has had a very successful 2022: Our Asian office based in Singapore continues to grow year-on-year and 2022 saw us extending our technology teams into Singapore - mirroring the structure of our office in Copenhagen. Going into 2023, we expect a continued emphasis on growth for these regions. Finalto sees Asia and Singapore as focal points for global expansion", according to Alex MacKinnon, CEO of Finalto Asia.

In 2023, Finalto plans to strengthen its services and support in Asia. MacKinnon went on to say: "Finalto is deploying its state of the art in house trading and aggregation technology into SG for liquidity and clearing for our regional partners and clients, making it a very exciting year for Finalto Asia.”

As we double down on the Eastern sphere, this of course raises questions about the state of the Chinese markets as Covid-19 policy continues to evolve. China's response to the pandemic has had a significant impact on the region's financial markets. However, Chief Market Analyst, Neil Wilson, is optimistic about China moving forward. In a recent interview, he stated:

"Overall, the situation in China is a positive for risk, particularly as the exit from zero Covid was far sooner than most had anticipated”.

We’ve already seen a huge rebound in Chinese equities since November’s trough where mainland Chinese stocks hit their lowest since early 2019. The move is also likely to be positive for commodities as the manufacturing sector comes back on.

“Domestic demand should also support services and I’d anticipate significant spill-over effects across other Asian and global equity markets,” says Wilson.

As Covid restrictions have eased, so too has Beijing’s crackdown on tech. With all these culminating factors, the outlook for Asia is more positive than it has been for some time, making it all the more important for Finalto to move forward.

“We recognize that there is a gap in liquidity aggregation and distribution for regionally sourced liquidity, we look to enhance our client offering by providing liquidity and clearing via our new datacentre in SG3," said MacKinnon when asked about plans for Asia this year.

This was a sentiment that was further reinforced by Alex Yap, Head of Institutional Sales, who went on to state that: "Asian markets are very diversified. Diversity presented many opportunities for us and is our catalyst for innovation. We are looking to strengthen our services and support in the Asian region and continue to work closely with our UK counterpart to serve our clients round-the-clock."

As a result, clients of Finalto can look forward to improvements in the company's trading systems and product offerings, as Finalto “continues to evolve its client trading systems and product offerings," reports MacKinnon. Aided by the addition of an SG3 server stack that provides a “significantly superior trading experience,” says Yap.

On a broader note, considering predictions for 2023 in general, Wilson forecasts, "Sluggish growth in the West may be offset by a more dynamic picture in the East”. OPEC has alluded to this in its recent oil market outlook, signalling that China’s reopening will drive more demand for crude. The IEA says China’s reopening will fuel record demand for crude in 2023 which could send prices north of $100 a barrel again.

However, Wilson also predicts that “recession may come for the global economy, but more likely seems a series of rolling mild recessions across developed markets in East and West”.

He went on to say that with the dollar pulling back from multi-year highs “it could reassert its dominance should other central banks fall short of the Fed’s tightening". As ever, anything can happen in the markets, but regardless, you can expect continued growth and excellent service from Finalto moving forward.