Newcomer of the year: Marex

In 2024, Marex’s Asia-Pacific (Apac) revenues surged by nearly 40% to $131 million, marking a successful multiyear expansion project that has seen the firm open additional offices and enter new markets across the region

“Just a couple of years ago, Marex only had a small presence in Asia. Now, we have full infrastructure, clearing memberships on [major exchanges] and offices from Auckland to Hong Kong,” says Marex’s Apac chief executive, Arthur Fan, who joined the firm in 2022 from Bank of China International. “We’re proud of the impact we’ve already made. It’s been a massive scale-up, and we’re just getting started.”

Marex has combined strong organic growth with several targeted acquisitions, including the addition of TD Cowen’s prime services business in December 2023. This allows the firm to offer multi-asset prime brokerage services in Asia across listed derivatives, foreign exchange and over-the-counter products, along with capital introduction services for hedge funds and asset managers.

We have a very ambitious growth plan for the Apac region and we are well-positioned to continue to grow

Arthur Fan, Marex

This was a natural extension to Marex’s existing offering for hedge fund clients, according to Fan. “And now we are growing that part of the business organically to become a trusted partner for hedge funds across multiple product lines,” he adds.

When it comes to acquisitions, Marex is not interested in “just buying P&L [profit and loss]” Fan says. “We are looking for synergy and to create strategic value. We want to acquire businesses that will bring our clients new capabilities but will still align with our existing strategy and infrastructure.”

This acquisition strategy helps Marex hit the ground running in new markets by providing immediate access to regulatory licences, local infrastructure and knowledge, and new capabilities. This is particularly important in the fragmented Apac markets, according to Fan. “For new market entries in the Apac region, acquisitions can provide a lot of strategic value,” he says. “But Marex is flexible, we consider both organic and acquisition approaches and decide which works better.”

The company plans to continue to use this approach in coming years, with the Apac business likely to be a major growth engine for Marex over the next decade, according to Fan. “Marex’s traditional strength has always been in commodities, although now we cover all asset classes,” he says. “And, of course, Apac is home to some of the largest consumers of commodities in the world, such as China and India, as well as some of the biggest producers, including Australia and Indonesia. So, it’s a very natural extension for Marex to grow in the region – it’s almost in our genes.”

Marex currently has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, but is also actively exploring expansion opportunities in burgeoning regional markets including Japan, the Republic of Korea and India. It already provides clients with access to major regional exchanges including the Singapore Exchange Group and the Australian Securities Exchange, both of which Marex joined in October 2023.

“Apac is a fast-growing consumer of electricity, which definitely comes with challenges,” Fan says. “The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and the need for energy-intensive data centres will require a huge increase in electricity generation and transmission capacity. But, unlike Europe, for example, Apac does not have a well-integrated and interconnected power market infrastructure. Marex is present in markets across Apac already, and so we are well-positioned for the future development of the region’s power markets and to serve diverse clients across them.”

The Apac business will also play a significant role in enabling Marex to support clients worldwide during the energy transition, Fan says. Marex offers more than 50 environmental products across clean energy, renewable fuels, emissions and recycled metals. Last year, it worked with one of China’s largest copper manufacturers, sourcing end-of-life copper from across Marex’s global network. “We used our risk management expertise and balance sheet to meet the manufacturer’s specific needs for pricing, timing, quality and origin,” Fan says. “And this enabled it to recycle copper, which is used in consumer goods such as mobile phones.”

Marex is also active across global carbon markets. It launched the Neon Carbon platform last year, which uses the firm’s proprietary technology to trade New Zealand’s compliance carbon market.

Fan points out that, by showing up at multiple points across the value chain in this way, Marex has demonstrated a commitment to these markets. And the company will continue to expand its presence to even more markets in the region, he says, adding: “We have a very ambitious growth plan for the Apac region and we are well-positioned to continue to grow.”