Barclays Capital is establishing an onshore branch in Taiwan in the coming months to tap the growing domestic derivatives market. "Taiwan will soon be on-stream," said Kurt Finkbeiner, director and Asian head of equity derivatives in Hong Kong, noting the firm has received initial regulatory approval for a branch and is awaiting additional sign-offs expected in the next few months. The bank plans to offer debt financing as well as derivatives across the spectrum, including equity, fixed income, foreign exchange and commodities.
Additionally, Barclays Capital recently began offshore equity derivatives trading on Taiwanese underlyings, which is part of a revamp in Asia spearheaded by the transfer of Finkbeiner from London last year to reestablish a desk after the firm had shifted its equity operation to Japan for two years (DW, 9/24). Barclays is already trading equities in Hong Kong, India, China and Korea and expects to see further growth in the region. "Asia has transformed dramatically in recent years, for instance the product life cycle has rapidly decreased and is becoming on par with Europe and the U.S.," said Finkbeiner.
