Asian equities: Asia’s battle of the brokers

New entrants to Asia’s crowded brokerage market are spending heavily in the belief that committing fully to the region is the only way to survive. There’s a lot of money being spent, but not enough business for all of the competition to survive. Lawrence White reports from Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

HALFWAY THROUGH A meeting in the Seoul headquarters of the Samsung group, Euromoney asks SJ Hwang about the competition in the Asian equities brokerage business. It is perhaps the first time in the meeting that the fast-talking Hwang, head of global equities at Samsung Securities, pauses for breath.

“Well, first up you have the 11 entrenched global players,” he begins, “the bulge-bracket banks that I don’t need to name plus CLSA, Macquarie and I would include Nomura.

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