Former Hong Kong stock exchange boss Charles Li joins US-listed bond trading platform MarketAxess as non-executive director

Li will join board meetings to give advice to the Nasdaq-listed electronic fixed-income trading platform that is expanding rapidly across Asia

International bonds issued from Asia have increased more than fivefold from US$107 billion in 2006 to US$575 billion in 2020

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Since leaving HKEX at the end of last year, Li said he has been busy setting up a platform to be launched later this year to help small companies to raise funds. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 4:45pm, 19 Jul 2021Updated: 11:09pm, 19 Jul 2021

Charles Li Xiaojia, the former chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), has joined US-listed debt trading platform MarketAxess as a non-executive director.

It is his first corporate role since leaving the operator of Asia’s third-largest stock exchange in December.

Working from Hong Kong, Li will join the board to advise the Nasdaq-listed electronic fixed-income trading platform that is expanding rapidly across Asia. The company, based in New York, announced on Monday afternoon that he had started his new role on July 13.

“I have a strong interest in market infrastructure companies. Joining the MarketAxess board will allow me to continue to learn and to further contribute to the buildout of electronic marketplaces for global fixed-income trading,” Li said in a Zoom interview on Monday.

Li, who turned 60 in March, had indicated he would stay in Hong Kong, the city he has called home for the last three decades, and hinted he would set up his own business. Since leaving HKEX at the end of last year, he said he has been busy setting up a platform to be launched later this year to help small companies to raise funds. He has also been playing football every day.

The appointment comes as Beijing is expected to soon announce the launch of the so-called southbound leg of the Bond Connect scheme which will allow mainlanders to invest in international bonds via Hong Kong. In 2017, when Li was at the helm of HKEX, he introduced the “northbound” leg allowing international investors to access mainland China’s bond market via Hong Kong.

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