Brazilian stock exchange B3 announced the opening of a new office in Singapore, aiming at expanding its business in Asia and Oceania. Sergio Gullo will lead the operation as B3’s director of international business development for Asia and Oceania. Gullo led B3’s operation in London for 10 years, from where he covered Europe and Asia.
This is the fourth B3’s international bureau, the Brazilian stock exchange already has offices in the United States, China, and England. Singapore is considered a strategic place for B3’s business because it is an important Asian financial center, in addition to providing easy access to countries such as India and Australia.
According to Gullo, B3 intends to get closer to Asian exchanges, meet the demands of clients in the region and map new clients who are interested in investing in Brazilian assets.
In the executive’s view, the potential of emerging markets, such as Brazil, in international markets is huge and B3 wants to position itself as an attractive and competitive alternative. “We have the infrastructure, the expertise and we are prepared to get international trading owner groups in our markets in search of new business opportunities.”
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According to B3 data, the Brazilian market has increasingly attracted investors from other countries: currently, foreign investors account for 48% of the volume of the Brazilian stock market, and 47% in the derivatives market. B3 claims that in 2020, it reached the second-highest volume of derivatives trading in the world, with a 63% increase in volume compared to 2019.
Nandini Sukumar, CEO at the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), said of B3’s expansion that it is an interesting time to be in Asia. “It is very challenging to meet the needs of many different kinds of clients in Asia, from different time zones. So, establishing a representative office has been the way that most of the companies have been doing it in the last decade,” he said.
