Citadel Securities Adds Asia Staff, Expands Hong Kong Office

Citadel Securities has increased its Asia-Pacific workforce to about 400 employees. Almost half of the nearly 100 people hired this year are based in Hong Kong. The remaining hires are in Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

The electronic market maker is expanding its office at Two International Finance Centre in Hong Kong by 40% to support further hiring. It is recruiting sales and trading professionals to work alongside its technology staff.

Chief Executive Peng Zhao said the firm is seeking partnerships with local and international banks to increase trading activity in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The plan builds on its U.S. equities and fixed-income operations and its structured-products business, which is based in Hong Kong.

The regional expansion includes several senior appointments. Prakash Subramanian KV, the former chief executive of Millennium Management India, joined as country head for India and Singapore. Richard Smerin, a former Morgan Stanley executive, became global head of structured products.

Citadel Securities has launched a high-touch equities trading service for institutional investors. The service uses more human involvement to execute large orders in U.S. stocks while seeking to limit their effect on market prices. According to Zhao, the number of active clients using the service doubled between the first and second halves of 2026.

The firm is considering offering similar block-trading services in Asia. It could work with banks to provide the service instead of directly replicating its U.S. model.

Citadel Securities is competing in the region with quantitative trading firms including Jane Street, which is also expanding its presence in Hong Kong.