London Stock Exchange SL- A place to earn more than SL's Prez & PM
Want to earn more than the President and the Prime Minister (PM) of Sri Lanka? Well, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) which opened its new state-of-the-art technology facility in Sri Lanka, headquartered in the TRACE Expert City in a precinct of Colombo would be just the place.
Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe told the elite technocrati and the myriad of others attending the launch of this facility earlier this week that the many gathered earn more than himself and the President. Looking around, one would agree it's true as who was represented there perhaps best sums up the confidence of what it means to be a young person at the beginning of the 21st century. In the i-Phone, app generation crowd - mostly young - seemed to have it all - style, panache, flair, elan and most importantly the qualifications.
After all it's the LSEG that's employing 400 personnel in high-technology jobs, with an additional 1,200 employed indirectly. These employees will be tasked with providing technical support serviced for the group's global network. LSEG is incidentally great at scouring talent from Sri Lanka as it were as it boasts extensive experience of working in Sri Lanka through its global trading and technology business Millennium IT, based in Colombo and Malabe.
Much appreciating the Chairman of LSEG Donald Brydon, CEO Xavier Rolet and members of the Board for availing this opportunity to Sri Lanka, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the London Stock Exchange is a world class facility, and a leading financial brand.
He also mentioned that come next month Volkswagen will also open its facility and then Pirelli, the official tyre supplier of formula one racing championship is slated to start a facility in another few months. Seems that the FDI wish list is somewhat 'in-line' for the 2-year old government which is hard pressed to source high-end investment.
Chairman, LSEG Donald Brydon said at the event, "Given our long history and very successful experience of working in Sri Lanka, it is the natural destination for LSEG's new business services technology division. We would like to thank the government of Sri Lanka for their support in this venture and look forward to further developing a world leading technology hub in the country".
LSEG is an international markets infrastructure business and leading developer and operator of high performance technology solutions, including trading, market surveillance and post trade systems for over 40 organisations and exchanges, including the group's own markets. Additional services include network connectivity, hosting and quality assurance testing. Millennium IT, GATE lab and Exactpro are among the group's technology companies.
Analysts say that complex financial transactions are the future and Sri Lanka can capitalise on this as it produces more accountants in the world than anywhere else with many British and American qualifications. "It's important that our talent pool has the access and systems to deal with complex financial transac- tions," an analyst said noting that the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification is important to promote in Sri Lanka.
"We hope that Colombo can encourage CFA and put into place the exposure to capital market," he said.
Post trade and risk management services are a significant part of the LSEG's business operations. In addition to majority ownership of LCH, a multi-asset global CCP operator, LSEG owns CC&G, the Italian clearing house; Monte Titoli, a leading European custody and settlement business; and globe settle, the Group's CSD based in Luxembourg.
Through FTSE Russell, the group is a global leader in Financial indexing, benchmarking and analytic services with approximately $10 trillion benchmarked to its indexes. The group also provides customers with an extensive range of real time and reference data products, including SEDOL, Una Vista, XTF and RNS. Patali Champika Ranawaka - Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, Ravi Karunanayake - Minister of Finance and Xavier Rolet, CEO of LSEG, attended the opening event.