Global commodities broker Marex Spectron has continued to build its presence in Asia with the appointment of Matthew France (pictured at left) as Head of Institutional Sales, Metals, in Asia.
Matthew France joins Marex Spectron from Morgan Stanley (YSE:MS) where he was an Executive Director managing the firm’s Asian Metals business. Reporting into the Global Head of Metals, Simon Van Den Born, he will be based in Marex Spectron’s Singapore office.
Matthew France has two decades’ experience in the financial and metals markets. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he spent eight years at Barclays Capital as a metals trader, excelling in price-making and risk management. His appointment comes after the recent hire of Roi Leung in Hong Kong to spearhead Marex Spectron’s Japanese Metals market offering.
Simon Van Den Born said of France’s hiring:
Matthew’s appointment further strengthens our presence in Asia. He has a deep knowledge of the Asian markets and will be instrumental in helping Marex Spectron access new opportunities in the region.
As Asia becomes an increasingly important center of global commodity markets, Marex Spectron has been positioning itself at the forefront of this transition. The Group has been steadily deepening its metals presence and market share in the region, as well as continuing to build up its existing ferrous metals and energy capability in Singapore.
The firm has also made a significant investment in its global technology offering for metals clients. Specialist metals functionality has been integrated into Neon, Marex Spectron’s industry leading Direct Market Access (DMA) technology platform, a development that has increased its attractiveness to clearing clients.
Neon now has almost 300 users placing orders directly into the market, with a further 900 users and 240 separate clients directing their exchange traded electronic order flow via the firm using third party vendor-provided platforms.