Taiwanese securities firm KGI Securities has completed the merger and acquisition of Ong First Tradition in Singapore, a deal that will expand the firm’s distribution capabilities in the private banking space in Singapore where it sells its range of structured products.
Ong First Tradition, one of the main futures brokers in Singapore, will be integrated into KGI Securities Singapore after relevant regulatory approvals were granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Taiwan Securities and Futures Commission (TSFC). Ong First Tradition becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of KGI Securities and will be renamed KGI Ong Capital.
A KGI spokesman told SRP that both firms are in the process of mapping out their strategy and expanding the team as they await further regulatory approval for the distribution of financial products including structured products.
With the integration, KGI Ong Capital will be co-managed by Foong Hock Meng, director of KGI Capital Singapore and Ong Ka Thai, chief executive of Ong First Tradition.
“We expect to reap tremendous synergistic benefits from this integration as it brings about the best of both worlds, combining KGI’s financial strengths with Ong First Tradition’s wide distribution network and extensive regional clientele in Singapore’s futures and options markets,” said Foong in a statement. “As we move forward to operate as KGI Ong Capital in Singapore, there will also be great synergies between KGI Hong Kong Group and KGI Ong Capital with client referrals and cross-selling of products for existing clients.”
KGI have been the only Taiwanese structured products presence in Singapore since 2011, when Yuanta Securities sold its stake in Kim Eng to Maybank.
Foong also said that the aim of the merger is to have Hong Kong and Singapore as the group’s two main international financial hubs.