Goldman Sachs has named Ian M. Smith as a managing director and head of electronic trading for the firm across the Asia-Pacific region, according to an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia.
His appointment comes as the shift towards trading electronically is speeding up this year as volumes, led by Japan, have surged, high-frequency traders returned to Asia in force and as large institutional investors looked to cut trading costs and made more trading decisions in-house.
From 2010 to 2011 the share of Asian equity trading volume executed through self-directed electronic trading systems increased to 21% from 16%. Asian institutional investors say they expect to...