Société Générale plans to start trading interest-rate derivatives in Korea next month. J.Y. Jung, treasurer in Seoul, said the firm will look to become a major player in the domestic swap market. He added that it will commence trading once it has completed installing systems. Last month SG hired J.H. Cho, head of trading at Samsung Life, as its chief dealer of fixed income products.
Cho said there is enormous potential in the Korean interest-rate market and he will look to quickly set up a team, hiring at least two more traders and additional salespeople, and catch up with the competition, such as Citibank and Deutsche Bank. Before the firm offered offshore Korean won interest-rate derivatives from its Singapore office. But it has decided to establish an office in Korea to take advantage of the growing market. Jung continued that Korea has the second largest fixed-income market in Asia and the interest-rate market is developing rapidly. In recent months Jung has received commitments from the head office to build an onshore presence in the interest-rate market, allowing him to hire professionals for the effort.
Cho is responsible for interest-rate derivatives, bonds, and cross-currency interest-rate swaps. SG also hired Charlie Yang, fixed income sales at Korean Development Bank, two months ago and K.H. Kim, interest-rate trader at Kookmin Bank
(DW, 7/2).
