Colombo centre to support fast-growing LSE Group trading, clearing house businesses

First centre of its kind in the world :

By Chandani Jayatilleke

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) will bring 32 ‘technology disciplines’ to Sri Lanka with the setting up of its subsidiary LSEG Business Services Limited in Colombo, and support high-speed trading platforms and clearing house functions that are among the group’s fastest growing businesses.

LSEG officials met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last week to finalise an investment agreement which will create 400 high-end tech jobs in Colombo. This facility will function as the group’s global IT support centre for stock exchanges and clearing houses globally.

The facility, to be opened in September, will be the first centre of this kind anywhere in the world for LSEG. It will be set up on two acres of land taken on a 10-year lease at the TRACE Expert City (former Tripoli market) in Maradana. A team of architects and contractors will be appointed to build the state-of-the-art-infrastructure, keeping with the traditions of LSE and the beauty of the original buildings of the Tripoli market.

LSE last week published advertisements in the local newspapers calling applicants to apply for high-end jobs in the Colombo office covering 32 disciplines. “We are currently evaluating some of the applications we have received from Sri Lankan IT professionals and hope to begin recruitment shortly,” said Group Head of Shared Services at LSEG, Martin Ryan who was in Colombo for talks with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

“We are impressed with the facilitation process and are optimistic about the success of the project in Colombo,” he told journalists after meeting the Premier. Sri Lanka’s time zone – three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half hours ahead of the European trading day – was an important reason for LSEG to locate its support centre in Colombo, Ryan said. LSEG is an international markets infrastructure business which has diversified far beyond equity trading on the London Stock Exchange, which now accounts for less than a quarter of the parent firm’s income. Its LCH.Clearnet, the Group’s clearing house and FTSE Russell index compiler units are seen as fast growing businesses.

LSE group’s high performance trading platforms and capital markets software for customers are largely designed by MillenniumIT.

It develops flexible, low cost, high performance trading platforms and financial markets software serving both the Group’s own businesses and third parties.

It has got new business this year from exchanges in India, Hong Kong and Singapore, among others.

MillenniumIT will be “instrumental in LSEG’s strategy to integrate and consolidate LCH.Clearnet’s multiple post trade platforms,” according to LSEG’s annual report.

“Our experience with MillenniumIT led us to believe that Sri Lanka is a natural fit to set up our latest ‘centre’ and bring in high-end jobs,” Ryan said.

LSEG’s Group Ticker Plant platform, built by MillenniumIT, which distributes real-time market data to traders with a latency of less than five microseconds, became available in March. Reducing latency - the delay between one system sending information and another receiving it - is critically important in modern trading systems to further cut the time taken for information like stock prices to be sent to trading firms and increase the speed at which orders are transmitted.

Executive Director, Exchanges Technology, LSEG, Duminda Liyanwela said the project is the group’s contribution to help in Sri Lanka’s journey towards a knowledge-based economy.

“The value addition it brings to the island is enormous and cannot be explained through an ‘investment figure,” he said.

By the end of the first quarter of 2017, LSEG will fill a significant number of jobs and the rest will be completed before the end of 2017.

Liyanwela said the recruits, irrespective of their IT background, will be trained to suit the LSEG’s requirements. “We need people with capital market experience and they are hard to find.

Even if they come with 15 years of technology experience they would need capital market experience for these jobs. So we will train them in London and Colombo.”

Liyanwela said capital market experience and skills are an important aspect for Sri Lankan youth. “Sri Lanka needs these skills for the country to do well in the future. If you take Singapore, the reason they are doing so well is because their capital markets are thriving.

Global companies come to Singapore to list stock, for example. Likewise, Singaporeans can benefit from capital markets in London or New York. This should happen in Sri Lanka and we believe ‘this link’ will help benefit Sri Lankans in a similar way.”

Country Head of LSEG Business Services Limited, Rohan Paulas said LSEG’s presence in Sri Lanka will be an attraction to get Sri Lankan IT professionals now working overseas back to the island.

He said they are keen on getting a good mix of male and female IT professionals.

“We are aware that Sri Lankan laws are not favourable towards women working on the night shift. But we ensure that our employees are well looked after and their needs are taken care of.

“Women’s ability to think in a highly-connected way is superior to us, men, who can think in boxes. Therefore, we want to ensure that female contribution is well included in our project. For young aspiring women who want to do well – we will take care of their safety issues,” he said.