< The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge

Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect, the literally boundary-breaking network over which equity transactions began flowing last September, appeared to be the climactic act of Charles Li’s five-year run as chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. Li, however, sees the so-called through train as just a start, in terms of both its own potential and additional cross-border linkages with other mainland markets and beyond. He says he is pleased with Stock Connect’s first several months; volumes built slowly and accelerated markedly in April. “Stock Connect is a long-term scheme, and its significance will be measured in years, not days or weeks,” says Li, 53, who was chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s China activities for six years before taking the HKEx helm in 2010. “The immediate achievement was the infrastructure itself, which enabled us to connect markets with widely differing systems, operating procedures and rules,” he adds. “The program has performed well against the three important measures of success for any major market infrastructure project: safety, stability and smooth operation.” Another high-profile initiative centers on the London Metal Exchange, which HKEx acquired in 2012 for $2.2 billion. LME has been extending its connections to China’s capital markets via Hong Kong, and in May it released a Chinese-language version of its smart phone app. Noting that LME brought clearing in-house last September with the launch of LME Clear, Li says, “LME and LME Clear are a key part of our international strategy to diversify our business and extend into commodities trading and clearing. They are already making an important contribution to our bottom line.”

See the full story, “The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge.”

 
The 2015 Tech 50

1. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange 2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. Model Portfolios to Deliver Alternative Asset Exposure Sponsored by BlackRock April 29, 2025 3. Phupinder Gill CME Group 4. Lance Uggla Markit 5. Robert Goldstein BlackRock

6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg 7. R. Martin Chavez Goldman Sachs Group 8. Deborah Hopkins Citi Ventures 9. Stephen Neff Fidelity Investments 10. Adena Friedman Nasdaq OMX Group

11. David Craig Thomson Reuters 12. Daniel Coleman KCG Holdings 13. Michael Spencer ICAP 14. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. 15. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

16. Chris Concannon BATS Global Markets 17. Christopher Perretta State Street Corp. 18. Antoine Shagoury London Stock Exchange Group 19. Kevin Rhein Wells Fargo & Co. 20. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw & Co.

21. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets 22. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings 23. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings 24. Robert Alexander Capital One Financial Corp. 25. Frank Bisignano First Data Corp.

26. John Marcante Vanguard Group 27. Joseph Squeri Citadel 28. Lou Eccleston TMX Group 29. Claude Honegger Credit Suisse 30. Chris Corrado MSCI

31. David Gledhill DBS Bank 32. John Bates Software AG 33. Michael Cooper BT Radianz 34. Gary Scholten Principal Financial Group 35. Sunil Hirani trueEX Group

36. Hauke Stars Deutsche BÖrse 37. Brian Conlon First Derivatives 38. Jim Minnick eVestment 39. Lars Seier Christensen & Kim Fournais 40. Tyler Kim MaplesFS

41. Jim McGuire Charles Schwab Corp. 42. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix 43. Sebastián Ceria Axioma 44. Yasuki Okai NRI Holdings America 45. Stephane Dubois Xignite

46. Mazy Dar OpenFin 47. Brian Sentance Xenomorph Software 48. Mas Nakachi OpenGamma 49. John Lehner BNY Mellon Technology Solutions Group 50. Jock Percy Perseus